Those novels that represent a man as having no interest in
life but love are false to human nature. In this poem Browning
represents facts as they are; it is not simply that the man wants to
go out and live among other men, it is a natural law that he must,
as truly a natural law as gravitation.
And straight was a path of gold for him,
And the need of a world of men for me.
Just as the sun must take his prescribed course through the sky, so
must I run my circle of duties in the world of men. It is not a
moral call of duty; it is the importunate pull of necessity.
There is still the possibility of another interpretation of the last
line, though I think the one just given is correct, "I need the
world of men; it is a natural law." Now it is just possible that we
could interpret "need" in another sense, with an inversion;
"the world of men needs me, and I must go to do my share." This
would make the man perhaps nobler, but surely not so natural; indeed
it would sound like a priggish excuse to leave his mistress.
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