Browning
says it is the kiss of one girl. This kiss is the concentrated
essence of all the glory, beauty, and sweetness of life. In order to
understand such a paradox, we must remember that in Browning's
philosophy, Love is the engine of the whole universe. I have no
doubt that Love meant to him more than it has ever meant to any
other poet or thinker; just as I am sure that the word Beauty
revealed to Keats a vision entirely beyond the range of even the
greatest seers. Love is the supreme fact; and every manifestation of
it on earth, from the Divine Incarnation down to a chance meeting of
lovers, is more important than any other event or idea. Now we have
seen that it is Browning's way invariably to represent an abstract
thought by a concrete illustration. Therefore in this great and
daring lyric we find the imaginary lover calling the kiss of the
woman he loves the highest good in life.
MY STAR
1855
All that I know
Of a certain star
Is, it can throw
(Like the angled spar)
Now a dart of red,
Now a dart of blue;
Till my friends have said
They would fain see, too,
My star that dartles the red and the blue!
Then it stops like a bird; like a flower, hangs furled:
They must solace themselves with the Saturn above it.
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