Robert Browning

In a Gondola

i.
I send my heart up to thee, all my heart
 In this my singing!
For the stars help me, and the sea bears part;
 The very night is clinging
Closer to Venice' streets to leave one space
 Above me, whence thy face
May light my joyous heart to thee its dwelling-place.
ii.
Say after me, and try to say
My words as if each word
Came from you of your own accord,
In your own voice, in your own way:
This woman's heart, and soul, and brain
Are mine as much as this gold chain
She bids me wear; which (say again)
I choose to make by cherishing
A precious thing, or choose to fling
Over the boat-side, ring by ring;
And yet once more say . . . no word more!—
Since words are only words. Give o'er!
Unless you call me, all the same,
Familiarly by my pet-name
Which if the Three should hear you call
And me reply to, would proclaim
At once our secret to them all:
Ask of me, too, command me, blame—
Do break down the partition-wall
'Twixt us the daylight world beholds
Curtained in dusk and splendid folds.
iii.
What's left but—all of me to take?

The Three

Her husband and his two henchmen—Paul, Gian, and 'Himself.' The lover knows from the start he's being hunted. Notice how casually she mentions being 'the Three's' in section iii.

I am the Three's, prevent them, slake
Your thirst! 'Tis said the Arab sage
In practising with gems can loose
Their subtle spirit in his cruce
And leave but ashes: so, sweet mage,
Leave them my ashes when thy use
Sucks out my soul, thy heritage!
iv.
1.
Past we glide, and past, and past!
 What's that poor Agnese doing
Where they make the shutters fast?
 Grey Zanobi's just a-wooing
To his couch the purchased bride:
 Past we glide!
2.
Past we glide, and past, and past!
 Why's the Pucci Palace flaring
Like a beacon to the blast?
 Guests by hundreds—not one caring
If the dear host's neck were wried:
 Past we glide!
v.
1.
The Moth's kiss, first!

Moth vs. Bee

Two kinds of kisses: tentative exploration (moth brushing petals) versus full possession (bee claiming the flower). The second kiss destroys—'shattered cup'—but she welcomes it.

Kiss me as if you made believe
You were not sure this eve,
How my face, your flower, had pursed
Its petals up; so here and there
Brush it, till I grow aware
Who wants me, and wide ope I burst.
2.
The bee's kiss, now!
Kiss me as if you entered gay
My heart at some noonday,
A bud that dares not disallow
The claim, so all is rendered up,
And passively its shattered cup
Over your head to sleep I bow.
vi.
1.
What are we two?
I am a Jew,
And carry thee, farther than friends can pursue,
To a feast of our tribe,
Where they need thee to bribe
The devil that blasts them unless he imbibe
Thy . . . Shatter the vision for ever! And now,
As of old, I am I, Thou art Thou!
2.
But again, what we are?
The sprite of a star,
I lure thee above where the Destinies bar
My plumes their full play
Till a ruddier ray
Than my pale one announce there is withering away
Some . . . Scatter the vision for ever! And now,
As of old, I am I, Thou art Thou!
vii.
Oh, which were best, to roam or rest?
The land's lap or the water's breast?
To sleep on yellow millet-sheaves,
Or swim in lucid shallows, just
Eluding water-lily leaves,
An inch from Death's black fingers, thrust
To lock you, whom release he must;
Which life were best on Summer eves?
viii.
Lie back; could I improve you?
From this shoulder let there spring
A wing; from this, another wing;
Wings, not legs and feet, shall move you!
Snow-white must they spring, to blend
With your flesh, but I intend
They shall deepen to the end,
Broader, into burning gold,
Till both wings crescent-wise enfold
Your perfect self, from 'neath your feet
To o'er your head, where, lo, they meet
As if a million sword-blades hurled
Defiance from you to the world!
Rescue me thou, the only real!
And scare away this mad Ideal
That came, nor motions to depart!
Thanks! Now, stay ever as thou art!
ix.
1.
He and the Couple catch at last
Thy serenader; while there's cast
Paul's cloak about my head, and fast
Gian pinions me, Himself has past
His stylet thro' my back; I reel;
And . . . is it Thee I feel?
2.
They trail me, these three godless knaves,
Past every church that sains and saves,
Nor stop till, where the cold sea raves
By Lido's wet accursed graves,
They scoop mine, roll me to its brink,
And . . . on Thy breast I sink!
x.
Dip your arm o'er the boat-side elbow-deep
As I do: thus: were Death so unlike Sleep,
Caught this way? Death's to fear from flame or steel
Or poison doubtless, but from water—feel!
Go find the bottom! Would you stay me? There!
Now pluck a great blade of that ribbon-grass
To plait in where the foolish jewel was,
I flung away: since you have praised my hair
'Tis proper to be choice in what I wear.
Must we, must we Home? Too surely
Know I where its front's demurely
Over the Giudecca piled;
Window just with window mating,
Door on door exactly waiting,
All's the set face of a child:
But behind it, where's a trace
Of the staidness and reserve,
And formal lines without a curve,
In the same child's playing-face?
No two windows look one way
O'er the small sea-water thread
Below them. Ah, the autumn day
I, passing, saw you overhead!
First out a cloud of curtain blew,
Then a sweet cry, and last came you—
To catch your loory that must needs
Escape just then, of all times then,
To peck a tall plant's fleecy seeds,
And make me happiest of men.
I scarce could breathe to see you reach
So far back o'er the balcony,
To catch him ere he climbed too high
Above you in the Smyrna peach,
That quick the round smooth cord of gold,
This coiled hair on your head, unrolled,
Fell down you like a gorgeous snake
The Roman girls were wont, of old
When Rome there was, for coolness' sake
To place within their bosoms.
Dear loory, may his beak retain
Ever its delicate rose stain
As if the wounded lotus-blossoms
Had marked their thief to know again!
xii.
Stay longer yet, for others' sake
Than mine! what should your chamber do?
—With all its rarities that ache
In silence while day lasts, but wake
At night-time and their life renew,
Suspended just to pleasure you
That brought reluctantly together
These objects and, while day lasts, weave
Around them such a magic tether
That dumb they look: your harp, believe,
With all the sensitive tight strings
That dare not speak, now to itself
Breathes slumberously as if some elf
Went in and out the chords his wings
Get murmurs from whene'er they graze,
As may an angel thro' the maze
Of pillars on God's quest have gone
At guilty glorious Babylon.
And while such murmurs flow, the nymph
Bends o'er the harp-top from her shell,
As the dry limpet for the lymph
Come with a tune he knows so well.
And how your statues' hearts must swell!
And how your pictures must descend
To see each other, friend with friend!
Oh, could you take them by surprise,

Schidone's Duke

Bartolomeo Schidone painted passionate religious scenes. The lover imagines her art collection coming alive at night—the Duke flirting with Luke's prim saint. Her chamber is full of Italian Renaissance paintings.

You'd find Schidone's eager Duke
Doing the quaintest courtesies
To that prim Saint by Haste-thee-Luke:
And deeper into her rock den
Bold Castelfranco's Magdalen
You'd find retreated from the ken
Of that robed counsel-keeping Ser—
As if the Tizian thinks of her!
And if he is not rather bent
On trying for himself what toys
Are these his progeny invent,
What litter now the board employs
Whereon he signed a document
That got him murdered! Each enjoys
Its night so well, you cannot break
The sport up, so, for others' sake
Than mine, your stay must longer make!
xiii.
1.
To-morrow, if a harp-string, say,
Is used to tie the jasmine back
That overfloods my room with sweets,
Be sure that Zorzi somehow meets
My Zanze: if the ribbon's black
I use, They're watching; keep away.
2.
Your gondola—let Zorzi wreathe
A mesh of water-weeds about
Its prow, as if he unaware
Had struck some quay or bridge-foot stair;
That I may throw a paper out
As you and he go underneath.
There's Zanze's vigilant taper; safe are we!
Only one minute more to-night with me?
Resume your past self of a month ago!
Be you the bashful gallant, I will be
The lady with the colder breast than snow:
Now bow you, as becomes, nor touch my hand
More than I touch yours when I step to land,
And say, All thanks, Siora . . .
Heart to heart
And lips to lips! Once, ere we part,
Make me thine as mine thou art!
xv.
It was to be so, Sweet, and best
Comes 'neath thine eyes, and on thy breast.
Still kiss me! Care not for the cowards! Care
Only to put aside thy beauteous hair
My blood will hurt. The Three I do not scorn
To death, because they never lived: but I
Have lived indeed, and so—(yet one more kiss)—can die!
i.
I send my heart up to thee, all my heart
 In this my singing!
For the stars help me, and the sea bears part;
 The very night is clinging
Closer to Venice' streets to leave one space
 Above me, whence thy face
May light my joyous heart to thee its dwelling-place.
ii.
Say after me, and try to say
My words as if each word
Came from you of your own accord,
In your own voice, in your own way:
This woman's heart, and soul, and brain
Are mine as much as this gold chain
She bids me wear; which (say again)
I choose to make by cherishing
A precious thing, or choose to fling
Over the boat-side, ring by ring;
And yet once more say . . . no word more!—
Since words are only words. Give o'er!
Unless you call me, all the same,
Familiarly by my pet-name
Which if the Three should hear you call
And me reply to, would proclaim
At once our secret to them all:
Ask of me, too, command me, blame—
Do break down the partition-wall
'Twixt us the daylight world beholds
Curtained in dusk and splendid folds.
iii.
What's left but—all of me to take?
I am the Three's, prevent them, slake

The Three

Her husband and his two henchmen—Paul, Gian, and 'Himself.' The lover knows from the start he's being hunted. Notice how casually she mentions being 'the Three's' in section iii.

Your thirst! 'Tis said the Arab sage
In practising with gems can loose
Their subtle spirit in his cruce
And leave but ashes: so, sweet mage,
Leave them my ashes when thy use
Sucks out my soul, thy heritage!
iv.
Past we glide, and past, and past!
 What's that poor Agnese doing
Where they make the shutters fast?
 Grey Zanobi's just a-wooing
To his couch the purchased bride:
 Past we glide!
Past we glide, and past, and past!
 Why's the Pucci Palace flaring
Like a beacon to the blast?
 Guests by hundreds—not one caring
If the dear host's neck were wried:
 Past we glide!
v.

Moth vs. Bee

Two kinds of kisses: tentative exploration (moth brushing petals) versus full possession (bee claiming the flower). The second kiss destroys—'shattered cup'—but she welcomes it.

The Moth's kiss, first!
Kiss me as if you made believe
You were not sure this eve,
How my face, your flower, had pursed
Its petals up; so here and there
Brush it, till I grow aware
Who wants me, and wide ope I burst.
The bee's kiss, now!
Kiss me as if you entered gay
My heart at some noonday,
A bud that dares not disallow
The claim, so all is rendered up,
And passively its shattered cup
Over your head to sleep I bow.
vi.
What are we two?
I am a Jew,
And carry thee, farther than friends can pursue,
To a feast of our tribe,
Where they need thee to bribe
The devil that blasts them unless he imbibe
Thy . . . Shatter the vision for ever! And now,
As of old, I am I, Thou art Thou!
But again, what we are?
The sprite of a star,
I lure thee above where the Destinies bar
My plumes their full play
Till a ruddier ray
Than my pale one announce there is withering away
Some . . . Scatter the vision for ever! And now,
As of old, I am I, Thou art Thou!
vii.
Oh, which were best, to roam or rest?
The land's lap or the water's breast?
To sleep on yellow millet-sheaves,
Or swim in lucid shallows, just
Eluding water-lily leaves,
An inch from Death's black fingers, thrust
To lock you, whom release he must;
Which life were best on Summer eves?
viii.
Lie back; could I improve you?
From this shoulder let there spring
A wing; from this, another wing;
Wings, not legs and feet, shall move you!
Snow-white must they spring, to blend
With your flesh, but I intend
They shall deepen to the end,
Broader, into burning gold,
Till both wings crescent-wise enfold
Your perfect self, from 'neath your feet
To o'er your head, where, lo, they meet
As if a million sword-blades hurled
Defiance from you to the world!
Rescue me thou, the only real!
And scare away this mad Ideal
That came, nor motions to depart!
Thanks! Now, stay ever as thou art!
ix.
He and the Couple catch at last
Thy serenader; while there's cast
Paul's cloak about my head, and fast
Gian pinions me, Himself has past
His stylet thro' my back; I reel;
And . . . is it Thee I feel?
They trail me, these three godless knaves,
Past every church that sains and saves,
Nor stop till, where the cold sea raves
By Lido's wet accursed graves,
They scoop mine, roll me to its brink,
And . . . on Thy breast I sink!
x.
Dip your arm o'er the boat-side elbow-deep
As I do: thus: were Death so unlike Sleep,
Caught this way? Death's to fear from flame or steel
Or poison doubtless, but from water—feel!
Go find the bottom! Would you stay me? There!
Now pluck a great blade of that ribbon-grass
To plait in where the foolish jewel was,
I flung away: since you have praised my hair
'Tis proper to be choice in what I wear.
Must we, must we Home? Too surely
Know I where its front's demurely
Over the Giudecca piled;
Window just with window mating,
Door on door exactly waiting,
All's the set face of a child:
But behind it, where's a trace
Of the staidness and reserve,
And formal lines without a curve,
In the same child's playing-face?
No two windows look one way
O'er the small sea-water thread
Below them. Ah, the autumn day
I, passing, saw you overhead!
First out a cloud of curtain blew,
Then a sweet cry, and last came you—
To catch your loory that must needs
Escape just then, of all times then,
To peck a tall plant's fleecy seeds,
And make me happiest of men.
I scarce could breathe to see you reach
So far back o'er the balcony,
To catch him ere he climbed too high
Above you in the Smyrna peach,
That quick the round smooth cord of gold,
This coiled hair on your head, unrolled,
Fell down you like a gorgeous snake
The Roman girls were wont, of old
When Rome there was, for coolness' sake
To place within their bosoms.
Dear loory, may his beak retain
Ever its delicate rose stain
As if the wounded lotus-blossoms
Had marked their thief to know again!
xii.
Stay longer yet, for others' sake
Than mine! what should your chamber do?
—With all its rarities that ache
In silence while day lasts, but wake
At night-time and their life renew,
Suspended just to pleasure you
That brought reluctantly together
These objects and, while day lasts, weave
Around them such a magic tether
That dumb they look: your harp, believe,
With all the sensitive tight strings
That dare not speak, now to itself
Breathes slumberously as if some elf
Went in and out the chords his wings
Get murmurs from whene'er they graze,
As may an angel thro' the maze
Of pillars on God's quest have gone
At guilty glorious Babylon.
And while such murmurs flow, the nymph
Bends o'er the harp-top from her shell,
As the dry limpet for the lymph
Come with a tune he knows so well.
And how your statues' hearts must swell!
And how your pictures must descend
To see each other, friend with friend!
Oh, could you take them by surprise,
You'd find Schidone's eager Duke

Schidone's Duke

Bartolomeo Schidone painted passionate religious scenes. The lover imagines her art collection coming alive at night—the Duke flirting with Luke's prim saint. Her chamber is full of Italian Renaissance paintings.

Doing the quaintest courtesies
To that prim Saint by Haste-thee-Luke:
And deeper into her rock den
Bold Castelfranco's Magdalen
You'd find retreated from the ken
Of that robed counsel-keeping Ser—
As if the Tizian thinks of her!
And if he is not rather bent
On trying for himself what toys
Are these his progeny invent,
What litter now the board employs
Whereon he signed a document
That got him murdered! Each enjoys
Its night so well, you cannot break
The sport up, so, for others' sake
Than mine, your stay must longer make!
xiii.
To-morrow, if a harp-string, say,
Is used to tie the jasmine back
That overfloods my room with sweets,
Be sure that Zorzi somehow meets
My Zanze: if the ribbon's black
I use, They're watching; keep away.
Your gondola—let Zorzi wreathe
A mesh of water-weeds about
Its prow, as if he unaware
Had struck some quay or bridge-foot stair;
That I may throw a paper out
As you and he go underneath.
There's Zanze's vigilant taper; safe are we!
Only one minute more to-night with me?
Resume your past self of a month ago!
Be you the bashful gallant, I will be
The lady with the colder breast than snow:
Now bow you, as becomes, nor touch my hand
More than I touch yours when I step to land,
And say, All thanks, Siora . . .
Heart to heart
And lips to lips! Once, ere we part,
Make me thine as mine thou art!
xv.
It was to be so, Sweet, and best
Comes 'neath thine eyes, and on thy breast.
Still kiss me! Care not for the cowards! Care
Only to put aside thy beauteous hair
My blood will hurt. The Three I do not scorn
To death, because they never lived: but I
Have lived indeed, and so—(yet one more kiss)—can die!
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

The Dramatic Situation

This is a dramatic monologue—Browning's signature form—but with two speakers alternating. The male lover speaks most sections; the woman (married, aristocratic, Venetian) speaks sections x-xii and parts of xiii. They're gliding through Venice's canals at night in a gondola, having an affair that will end in murder.

The poem's structure mirrors the gondola ride: 'Past we glide, and past, and past!' They drift past shuttered houses, lit palaces, watching Venice's night life from the water. But section ix reveals this is a flashback—the lover is already being murdered as he remembers the gondola ride. The whole poem is his dying vision.

Browning wrote this in 1842, part of his obsession with Italian Renaissance intrigue. The stylet (thin dagger), the hired assassins, the burial at the Lido—these are standard Venetian murder plot elements. But notice: the woman is complicit. She knows about 'the Three,' uses her servants Zorzi and Zanze as lookouts, has elaborate signal systems (black ribbon = danger, harp-string = safe). This isn't Romeo and Juliet. It's an affair between people who understand the stakes.

Who Are 'The Three'?

The woman's husband and his two servants: Paul and Gian, who hold the lover while 'Himself' (the husband) stabs him. Section ix names them clearly. But Browning makes them weirdly abstract—'the Three'—like a dark trinity or a conspiracy.

The lover's contempt is telling: 'I do not scorn / To death, because they never lived: but I / Have lived indeed.' They're 'godless knaves' who murder by churches without entering. They're watchers, enforcers, the daylight world's revenge on the night. The lover and his mistress have 'lived'—felt genuine passion—while the Three are merely functional, brutal, unliving.

Notice the burial location: 'By Lido's wet accursed graves.' The Lido is Venice's barrier island, where the city buried plague victims and executed criminals. Unhallowed ground. The Three 'trail' him past churches that could offer sanctuary ('sains and saves') but don't stop until they reach this cursed place. Even in death, he's denied Christian burial.