Discussion Topic
Analysis of the themes and central conflict in Robert Browning's "Two in the Campagna."
Summary:
Robert Browning's "Two in the Campagna" explores themes of love, desire, and the elusive nature of human connection. The central conflict revolves around the speaker's yearning to fully connect with his beloved and the frustration of that unattainable ideal, highlighting the tension between the desire for perfect unity and the inevitable limitations of human relationships.
What are the main themes of Robert Browning's "Two in the Campagna"?
The poem “Two in the Campagna” by Robert Browning is a love poem addressed to his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In the poem, the narrator recalls being seated outdoors in rural Italy; the particular moment has some obvious significance in the history of their relationship, and he wonders if those moments of peak emotion can actually be sustained, and whether there is a fault in their relationship if they cannot. The narrator observes the profusion and diversity of nature and comparing it to the profusion and diversity of his own thoughts and ideas. The poem concludes with a version of Browning’s “doctrine of imperfection” in stating that although perhaps moments of perfect emotional intensity are rare, they remain a constant reminder of their own possibilities, and thus their rareness is not a sign of failure of love but of its possibilities.
What is the central conflict in Robert Browning's "Two in the Campagna" and its resolution?
The main conflict at the center of the...
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poem "Two in the Campagna" by Robert Browning lies in the difference between the narrator's idealistic vision of how he sees his relationship with his lover and his inability to express his heartfelt emotions. He tells his lover, "I would that you were all to me" and that he wants to "drink my fill at your soul's springs—your part my part in life, for good and ill." In other words, he desires total commitment. But he lacks the ability to express how he feels, and he admits that his love is not all-encompassing but instead "just so much, no more." They are in a romantic moment, but the moment passes—"the good minute goes"—and he is left with "the pain of finite hearts that burn."
Campagna is a town in the region of Campania in Italy, to the south of Rome. The lovers have gone to the countryside to sit together in the grass. The narrator tries to hold onto a thought that "has tantalized me many times." He admonishes his lover to "help me to hold it." The thought concerns the deep feelings that he has for her, but just as the multitudes of beautiful images of the flowers, grass, and other natural things around them make it hard to focus on just one thing, so he finds it difficult to compile the words that can properly form his thoughts. He feels that the two of them should be "letting nature have her way" and "be unashamed of soul," but ultimately his inability to express what he means causes his efforts to fall short. The conflict remains, in the end, unresolved.