And yet, so far as we know, he never told any one about that
day, nor left any written record either of that or any other of the
great moments in his life. In _The Ring and the Book_, he tells us
of the passion, mystery and wonder that filled his soul on the night
of the day when he had found the old yellow volume: but he has said
nothing of his sensations when he wrote the speech of Pompilia.
This is why I am glad he added the last stanza to _Saul_. It
purports to be a picture of David's drunken rapture, when, after the
inspiration had flowed through his soul, he staggered home through
the night. About him were angels, powers, unuttered, unseen, alive,
aware. The whole earth was awakened, hell loosed with her crews; the
stars of night beat with emotion. David is Browning himself; and the
poet is trying to tell us, in the only way possible to a man like
Browning, how the floods of his own genius affected him. He gives a
somewhat similar picture in _Abt Vogler_. It is not in the least
surprising that he could not write or talk to his friends about such
marvellous experiences.
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