In _Time's Revenges_, the
unfortunate lover is maddened by the vision of the girl's face:
So is my spirit, as flesh with sin,
Filled full, eaten out and in
With the face of her, the eyes of her,
The lips, the little chin, the stir
Of shadow round her mouth.
Browning's rejected lovers are such splendid fellows that one
wonders at their ill luck. Tennyson's typical lovers, as seen in
_Locksley Hall_, _Lady Clara Vere de Vere_, and the first part of
_Maud_, behave in a manner that quite justifies the woman. They
whine, they rave, and they seem most of all to be astonished at the
woman's lack of judgment in not recognising their merits. Instead of
a noble sorrow, they exhibit peevishness; they seem to say,
"You'll be sorry some day." Browning's rejected lovers never think
of themselves and their own defeat; they think only of the woman,
who is now more adorable than ever. It never occurs to them that the
woman is lacking in intelligence because of her refusal; nor that
the man she prefers is a lowbrowed scoundrel.
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