Wagner's "Seigfried" and "Parsifal" are
altogether too long to be enjoyed thoroughly. The composer would have
done well to eliminate a third of each, for as they are produced they
strain the attention to the point of fatigue, and no work of art
should ever tire its admirers.
In the same way Browning offends against this primal canon of art. A
man who was capable of writing the most melodious verse, as is shown
in some of his lyrics, he refused to put his thoughts in simple form,
and often clothed them in obscurity. The result is that the great
public which would have enjoyed his studies of character and his
powerful dramatic faculty is repelled at the outset by the
difficulties of understanding his poems. Browning added to this
obscurity by constant reference to little-known authors. This was not
pedantry, any more than Milton's use of classic mythology was
pedantry. Both men possessed unusual knowledge of rare books, and both
were much given to quoting authors who are unknown to the general
reading public.
But with all these difficulties in the way, there still remains a body
of verse in Browning's work which will richly repay any reader. The
lyrics and short poems like _The Pied Piper of Hamelin_, _Pippa
Passes_, _Prospice_, _O Lyric Love_, _The Last Ride_, _One Word More_,
_How They Brought the Good News_, _Herve Riel_, the epilogue to
_Asolando_, _The Lost Leader_, _Men and Women_, and _A Soul's Tragedy_
will give any reader a taste of the real Browning.
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