The Browning Cyclopædia
"Evil is more frail than nonentity."
(Proclus, _De Prov._, in Cory's _Fragm._)
"Let no one therefore say that there are precedaneous productive
principles of evil in the nature of intellectual paradigms of evil in the
same manner as there are of good, or that there is a malefic soul or an
evil-producing cause in the gods, nor let him introduce sedition or
eternal war against the First God" (Proclus, _Six Books_, trans. Thomas
Taylor, B. i., c. 27). In heaven, then, we are to find "the perfect
round," "the broken arcs" are all we can discover here. Rising in the
tenth stanza to the highest stature of the philosophical truth, the poet
proclaims his faith in the existence of a home of pure ideals. The harmony
of a few bars of music on earth suggests the eternal harmonies of the
Author of order; the rays of goodness which brighten our path here suggest
a Sun of Righteousness from which they emanate. The lover and the bard
send up to God their feeble aspirations after the beautiful and the true,
and these aspirations are stored in His treasury. Failure? It is but the
pause in the music, the discords that set off the harmony. To the musician
this is not something to be reasoned about mathematically; it is
knowledge, it is a revelation which, however informing and consoling while
it lasts, must not too long divert a man from the common things of life;
patient to bear and suffer because strengthened by the beautiful vision of
the Mount of Transfiguration, proud that he has been permitted to have
part and lot with such high matters, he can solemnly acquiesce in the
common round and daily task. He feels for the common chord, descends the
mount, gliding by semitones, glancing back at the heights he is leaving,
till at last, finding his true resting-place in the C Major of this life,
soothed and sweetly lulled by the heavenly harmonies, he falls asleep. The
Esoteric system of the Cabbalah was largely the outcome of Neo-Platonism
and Gnosticism, and from these have sprung the theosophy of Meister
Eckhart and Jacob Boehme. It is certain that Mr. Browning was a student of
the latter "theosophist" _par excellence_. In his poem _Transcendentalism_
he refers to the philosopher by name, and there are evidences that the
poet's mind was deeply tinctured with his ideas. The influence of
Paracelsus on Boehme's mind is conspicuous in his works, and the sympathy
with that great medical reformer which the poem of _Paracelsus_ betrays on
every page was no doubt largely due to Boehme's teaching. The curious
blending of theosophy and science which is found in the poem of
_Paracelsus_ is not a less faithful picture of Mr. Browning's
philosophical system than of that of his hero. Professor Andrew Seth, in
the article on theosophy in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, thus expounds
Boehme's speculation on evil: it turns "upon the necessity of reconciling
the existence and the might of evil with the existence of an all-embracing
and all-powerful God.... He faces the difficulty boldly--he insists on the
necessity of the Nay to the Yea, of the negative to the positive." Eckhart
seems to have largely influenced Boehme. We have in this poem what has
been aptly called "the richest, deepest, fullest poem on music in the
language." (Symons.) Mr. Browning was a thorough musician himself, and no
poet ever wrote what the musician felt till he penned the wonderful
music-poems _Abt Vogler_, _Master Hugues of Saxe Gotha_ and _A Toccata of
Galuppi's_. The comparison between music and architecture is as old as it
is beautiful. Amphion built the walls of Thebes to the sound of his
lyre--fitting the stones together by the power of his music, and "Ilion's
towers," they say, "rose with life to Apollo's song." The "Keeley Motor"
was an attempt in this direction. Coleridge, too, in _Kubla Khan_, with
"music loud and long would build that dome in air." In the May 1891 number
of the _Century Magazine_ there is a very curious and a very interesting
account by Mrs. Watts Hughes of certain "Voice-figures" which have lately
excited so much interest in scientific and musical circles. "By a simple
method figures of sounds are produced which remain permanent. On a thin
indiarubber membrane, stretched across the bottom of a tube of sufficient
diameter for the purpose, is poured a small quantity of water or some
denser liquid, such as glycerine; and into this liquid are sprinkled a few
grains of some ordinary solid pigment.
1104301895
(Proclus, _De Prov._, in Cory's _Fragm._)
"Let no one therefore say that there are precedaneous productive
principles of evil in the nature of intellectual paradigms of evil in the
same manner as there are of good, or that there is a malefic soul or an
evil-producing cause in the gods, nor let him introduce sedition or
eternal war against the First God" (Proclus, _Six Books_, trans. Thomas
Taylor, B. i., c. 27). In heaven, then, we are to find "the perfect
round," "the broken arcs" are all we can discover here. Rising in the
tenth stanza to the highest stature of the philosophical truth, the poet
proclaims his faith in the existence of a home of pure ideals. The harmony
of a few bars of music on earth suggests the eternal harmonies of the
Author of order; the rays of goodness which brighten our path here suggest
a Sun of Righteousness from which they emanate. The lover and the bard
send up to God their feeble aspirations after the beautiful and the true,
and these aspirations are stored in His treasury. Failure? It is but the
pause in the music, the discords that set off the harmony. To the musician
this is not something to be reasoned about mathematically; it is
knowledge, it is a revelation which, however informing and consoling while
it lasts, must not too long divert a man from the common things of life;
patient to bear and suffer because strengthened by the beautiful vision of
the Mount of Transfiguration, proud that he has been permitted to have
part and lot with such high matters, he can solemnly acquiesce in the
common round and daily task. He feels for the common chord, descends the
mount, gliding by semitones, glancing back at the heights he is leaving,
till at last, finding his true resting-place in the C Major of this life,
soothed and sweetly lulled by the heavenly harmonies, he falls asleep. The
Esoteric system of the Cabbalah was largely the outcome of Neo-Platonism
and Gnosticism, and from these have sprung the theosophy of Meister
Eckhart and Jacob Boehme. It is certain that Mr. Browning was a student of
the latter "theosophist" _par excellence_. In his poem _Transcendentalism_
he refers to the philosopher by name, and there are evidences that the
poet's mind was deeply tinctured with his ideas. The influence of
Paracelsus on Boehme's mind is conspicuous in his works, and the sympathy
with that great medical reformer which the poem of _Paracelsus_ betrays on
every page was no doubt largely due to Boehme's teaching. The curious
blending of theosophy and science which is found in the poem of
_Paracelsus_ is not a less faithful picture of Mr. Browning's
philosophical system than of that of his hero. Professor Andrew Seth, in
the article on theosophy in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, thus expounds
Boehme's speculation on evil: it turns "upon the necessity of reconciling
the existence and the might of evil with the existence of an all-embracing
and all-powerful God.... He faces the difficulty boldly--he insists on the
necessity of the Nay to the Yea, of the negative to the positive." Eckhart
seems to have largely influenced Boehme. We have in this poem what has
been aptly called "the richest, deepest, fullest poem on music in the
language." (Symons.) Mr. Browning was a thorough musician himself, and no
poet ever wrote what the musician felt till he penned the wonderful
music-poems _Abt Vogler_, _Master Hugues of Saxe Gotha_ and _A Toccata of
Galuppi's_. The comparison between music and architecture is as old as it
is beautiful. Amphion built the walls of Thebes to the sound of his
lyre--fitting the stones together by the power of his music, and "Ilion's
towers," they say, "rose with life to Apollo's song." The "Keeley Motor"
was an attempt in this direction. Coleridge, too, in _Kubla Khan_, with
"music loud and long would build that dome in air." In the May 1891 number
of the _Century Magazine_ there is a very curious and a very interesting
account by Mrs. Watts Hughes of certain "Voice-figures" which have lately
excited so much interest in scientific and musical circles. "By a simple
method figures of sounds are produced which remain permanent. On a thin
indiarubber membrane, stretched across the bottom of a tube of sufficient
diameter for the purpose, is poured a small quantity of water or some
denser liquid, such as glycerine; and into this liquid are sprinkled a few
grains of some ordinary solid pigment.
The Browning Cyclopædia
"Evil is more frail than nonentity."
(Proclus, _De Prov._, in Cory's _Fragm._)
"Let no one therefore say that there are precedaneous productive
principles of evil in the nature of intellectual paradigms of evil in the
same manner as there are of good, or that there is a malefic soul or an
evil-producing cause in the gods, nor let him introduce sedition or
eternal war against the First God" (Proclus, _Six Books_, trans. Thomas
Taylor, B. i., c. 27). In heaven, then, we are to find "the perfect
round," "the broken arcs" are all we can discover here. Rising in the
tenth stanza to the highest stature of the philosophical truth, the poet
proclaims his faith in the existence of a home of pure ideals. The harmony
of a few bars of music on earth suggests the eternal harmonies of the
Author of order; the rays of goodness which brighten our path here suggest
a Sun of Righteousness from which they emanate. The lover and the bard
send up to God their feeble aspirations after the beautiful and the true,
and these aspirations are stored in His treasury. Failure? It is but the
pause in the music, the discords that set off the harmony. To the musician
this is not something to be reasoned about mathematically; it is
knowledge, it is a revelation which, however informing and consoling while
it lasts, must not too long divert a man from the common things of life;
patient to bear and suffer because strengthened by the beautiful vision of
the Mount of Transfiguration, proud that he has been permitted to have
part and lot with such high matters, he can solemnly acquiesce in the
common round and daily task. He feels for the common chord, descends the
mount, gliding by semitones, glancing back at the heights he is leaving,
till at last, finding his true resting-place in the C Major of this life,
soothed and sweetly lulled by the heavenly harmonies, he falls asleep. The
Esoteric system of the Cabbalah was largely the outcome of Neo-Platonism
and Gnosticism, and from these have sprung the theosophy of Meister
Eckhart and Jacob Boehme. It is certain that Mr. Browning was a student of
the latter "theosophist" _par excellence_. In his poem _Transcendentalism_
he refers to the philosopher by name, and there are evidences that the
poet's mind was deeply tinctured with his ideas. The influence of
Paracelsus on Boehme's mind is conspicuous in his works, and the sympathy
with that great medical reformer which the poem of _Paracelsus_ betrays on
every page was no doubt largely due to Boehme's teaching. The curious
blending of theosophy and science which is found in the poem of
_Paracelsus_ is not a less faithful picture of Mr. Browning's
philosophical system than of that of his hero. Professor Andrew Seth, in
the article on theosophy in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, thus expounds
Boehme's speculation on evil: it turns "upon the necessity of reconciling
the existence and the might of evil with the existence of an all-embracing
and all-powerful God.... He faces the difficulty boldly--he insists on the
necessity of the Nay to the Yea, of the negative to the positive." Eckhart
seems to have largely influenced Boehme. We have in this poem what has
been aptly called "the richest, deepest, fullest poem on music in the
language." (Symons.) Mr. Browning was a thorough musician himself, and no
poet ever wrote what the musician felt till he penned the wonderful
music-poems _Abt Vogler_, _Master Hugues of Saxe Gotha_ and _A Toccata of
Galuppi's_. The comparison between music and architecture is as old as it
is beautiful. Amphion built the walls of Thebes to the sound of his
lyre--fitting the stones together by the power of his music, and "Ilion's
towers," they say, "rose with life to Apollo's song." The "Keeley Motor"
was an attempt in this direction. Coleridge, too, in _Kubla Khan_, with
"music loud and long would build that dome in air." In the May 1891 number
of the _Century Magazine_ there is a very curious and a very interesting
account by Mrs. Watts Hughes of certain "Voice-figures" which have lately
excited so much interest in scientific and musical circles. "By a simple
method figures of sounds are produced which remain permanent. On a thin
indiarubber membrane, stretched across the bottom of a tube of sufficient
diameter for the purpose, is poured a small quantity of water or some
denser liquid, such as glycerine; and into this liquid are sprinkled a few
grains of some ordinary solid pigment.
(Proclus, _De Prov._, in Cory's _Fragm._)
"Let no one therefore say that there are precedaneous productive
principles of evil in the nature of intellectual paradigms of evil in the
same manner as there are of good, or that there is a malefic soul or an
evil-producing cause in the gods, nor let him introduce sedition or
eternal war against the First God" (Proclus, _Six Books_, trans. Thomas
Taylor, B. i., c. 27). In heaven, then, we are to find "the perfect
round," "the broken arcs" are all we can discover here. Rising in the
tenth stanza to the highest stature of the philosophical truth, the poet
proclaims his faith in the existence of a home of pure ideals. The harmony
of a few bars of music on earth suggests the eternal harmonies of the
Author of order; the rays of goodness which brighten our path here suggest
a Sun of Righteousness from which they emanate. The lover and the bard
send up to God their feeble aspirations after the beautiful and the true,
and these aspirations are stored in His treasury. Failure? It is but the
pause in the music, the discords that set off the harmony. To the musician
this is not something to be reasoned about mathematically; it is
knowledge, it is a revelation which, however informing and consoling while
it lasts, must not too long divert a man from the common things of life;
patient to bear and suffer because strengthened by the beautiful vision of
the Mount of Transfiguration, proud that he has been permitted to have
part and lot with such high matters, he can solemnly acquiesce in the
common round and daily task. He feels for the common chord, descends the
mount, gliding by semitones, glancing back at the heights he is leaving,
till at last, finding his true resting-place in the C Major of this life,
soothed and sweetly lulled by the heavenly harmonies, he falls asleep. The
Esoteric system of the Cabbalah was largely the outcome of Neo-Platonism
and Gnosticism, and from these have sprung the theosophy of Meister
Eckhart and Jacob Boehme. It is certain that Mr. Browning was a student of
the latter "theosophist" _par excellence_. In his poem _Transcendentalism_
he refers to the philosopher by name, and there are evidences that the
poet's mind was deeply tinctured with his ideas. The influence of
Paracelsus on Boehme's mind is conspicuous in his works, and the sympathy
with that great medical reformer which the poem of _Paracelsus_ betrays on
every page was no doubt largely due to Boehme's teaching. The curious
blending of theosophy and science which is found in the poem of
_Paracelsus_ is not a less faithful picture of Mr. Browning's
philosophical system than of that of his hero. Professor Andrew Seth, in
the article on theosophy in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, thus expounds
Boehme's speculation on evil: it turns "upon the necessity of reconciling
the existence and the might of evil with the existence of an all-embracing
and all-powerful God.... He faces the difficulty boldly--he insists on the
necessity of the Nay to the Yea, of the negative to the positive." Eckhart
seems to have largely influenced Boehme. We have in this poem what has
been aptly called "the richest, deepest, fullest poem on music in the
language." (Symons.) Mr. Browning was a thorough musician himself, and no
poet ever wrote what the musician felt till he penned the wonderful
music-poems _Abt Vogler_, _Master Hugues of Saxe Gotha_ and _A Toccata of
Galuppi's_. The comparison between music and architecture is as old as it
is beautiful. Amphion built the walls of Thebes to the sound of his
lyre--fitting the stones together by the power of his music, and "Ilion's
towers," they say, "rose with life to Apollo's song." The "Keeley Motor"
was an attempt in this direction. Coleridge, too, in _Kubla Khan_, with
"music loud and long would build that dome in air." In the May 1891 number
of the _Century Magazine_ there is a very curious and a very interesting
account by Mrs. Watts Hughes of certain "Voice-figures" which have lately
excited so much interest in scientific and musical circles. "By a simple
method figures of sounds are produced which remain permanent. On a thin
indiarubber membrane, stretched across the bottom of a tube of sufficient
diameter for the purpose, is poured a small quantity of water or some
denser liquid, such as glycerine; and into this liquid are sprinkled a few
grains of some ordinary solid pigment.
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The Browning Cyclopædia
The Browning Cyclopædia
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| BN ID: | 2940013613157 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | SAP |
| Publication date: | 07/15/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 690 KB |
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