Analysis of “A Toccata of Galuppi’s” by Robert Browning

Posted on Sep 29, 2024 in English

A Toccata of Galuppi’s by Robert Browning

Voice

The poem is written in the third person. There are three distinct voices: the scientist, Baldassaro Galuppi (who is deceased), and a group of people at the Venetian carnivals.

Mood

The poem’s mood is melancholic and sorrowful, although there are moments of joy interspersed throughout.

Topic

The main themes of the poem are Tempus Fugit (time flies) and Carpe Diem (seize the day). The poem can be divided into three parts:

  1. Lines 1-4: Focuses on Tempus Fugit.
  2. Lines 5-10: Explores Carpe Diem.
  3. Lines 11-15: Returns to the theme of Tempus Fugit.

Summary

The scientist reflects on death and contemplates his own mortality. Galuppi’s music evokes vivid visions of Venice for the scientist, including a masked ball. He imagines a conversation between two lovers at this ball.

Summary by Stanzas

  1. The scientist listens to a toccata by the Venetian composer Baldassare Galuppi and feels a sense of sadness.
  2. Through his music, Galuppi describes Venice.
  3. He continues describing Venice, stating that the streets are like the sea arched by bridges. The scientist feels as though he knows Venice through the music, even though he has never been there.
  4. The music transports the scientist to a Venetian carnival with masks and balls.
  5. The scientist imagines the party and focuses on a particular lady whom he describes.
  6. He imagines the lady engaging in conversation with a man.
  7. The lovers discuss the inevitability of death.
  8. The lovers talk about happiness.
  9. Upon hearing the answer to their question about death, they are left speechless. They praise Galuppi’s music and consider it a masterpiece.
  10. The poet highlights the triviality of death and how people, after enjoying life, eventually die.
  11. The scientist describes how Galuppi’s music plays in the background while he works on his scientific problems.
  12. Galuppi seems to speak to the scientist through the music, reminding him of the inevitability of death and how it eventually came for the people of Venice.
  13. Galuppi continues to communicate with the scientist. There’s a conflict between reason (the belief that there is nothing after death) and faith (“you’ll not die, it cannot be!”).
  14. The people of Venice spent their lives in pleasure and revelry, but death eventually claimed them, and they vanished.
  15. After Galuppi’s message, the scientist reflects on immortality and his inability to escape death.

Parts

  1. Stanzas 1-3: Introduction. The evocative power of the music describes Venice. These stanzas introduce the poem’s subject. Here, joy brings sadness.
  2. Stanzas 4-10: The Evocation of Venetian Soirées. The parties and the lovers who have a conversation where they speak about happiness. This section highlights the Carpe Diem theme, although stanza 10 introduces the Tempus Fugit theme.
  3. Stanzas 11-15: Dialogue Between Galuppi and the Scientist. This section focuses on the immortality of the soul. It begins with Tempus Fugit, then explores the concept of the soul’s immortality, and finally, evokes sadness in the scientist.

Metrics

The poem is written in hexameters with mono-rhyme tercets.

Figures

Stanza 1

  • Line 1: Apostrophe (“Oh, Galuppi”) and alliteration of the /s/ sound (Baldassaro, this, is, very, sad).
  • Line 2: Hyperbole (“deaf and blind”) and alliteration of the /d/ sound (hardly, would, deaf, blind).
  • Line 3: Simile (“with such a heavy mind”).

In these first three lines, the poet aims to create anticipation in the reader.

Stanza 2

  • Metaphor: “The Doges used to wed the sea with rings.”
  • Anaphora: Repetition of “here” to emphasize and create a vivid image.
  • Paronomasia: “old” and “all”.
  • Alliteration: Liquid /r/ sound, mimicking the melody and music expanding in the air.
  • Paronomasia: “Where” and “were”.
  • Alliteration: Liquids and nasals (once, kings).
  • Anaphora: “Where” repeated to create a vivid image of Venice.
  • Alliteration: Liquids (where, Mark, where, rings) and /w/ sound.

Stanza 3

  • Apostrophe: “Ay”.
  • Paradox: “the sea’s the street”.
  • Alliteration: /s/ sound (silence).
  • Line 9: Paradox: “I was never out of England – it’s as if I saw it all”.

The effect of this stanza is to recreate a feeling of wonder.

Stanza 6

  • Parallelism: Verse 17 “She, to bite her mask’s velvet – he, to finger on his sword”.
  • Alliteration: /k/, /t/, /d/, and /f/ sounds. The /k/ and /f/ sounds represent an interruption of an action.

Stanza 7

  • Alliteration: /s/, liquids, and nasals to create musicality.
  • Personification: “Those commiserating sevenths” (line 21).
  • Anaphora: “Those suspensions, those solutions” (line 20).
  • Rhetorical Question: “Told them something?” (line 20).
  • Surprise: “What?” (line 19).

Stanza 8

  • Dialogue.
  • Rhetorical Question: “Did I stop them, when a million seemed so few?” (line 23).
  • Personification: “the dominant’s persistence” (line 24).
  • Alliteration: /s/, nasals, and liquids.

Stanza 9

  • Alliteration: /t/ sound to indicate fixity and liquids for musicality.
  • Personification: “An octave struck the answer” (line 25).
  • Paronomasia: “at grave at gay” (line 26). Ambiguity in the word “grave”.
  • Periphrasis: “leaving off talking” (line 27).
  • Rhetorical Exclamation: In all three verses.
  • Oxymoron: The simultaneous experience of sadness and happiness.

Stanza 10

  • Alliteration: /t/ for fixity, /d/, /w/, and nasals.
  • Anaphora: “one by one” (line 28).
  • Parallelism: “Some with lives… some with deeds…” (line 29).
  • Personification: “Death stepped tacitly” (line 30).
  • Periphrasis: “Where they never see the sun”.

Stanza 11

  • First Line: Alliteration /t/, /d/, and nasals. Periphrasis: “I sit down”.
  • Second Line: Alliteration /r/. Personification: “secret wrung”. Hyperbole: “I triumph over a secret”.
  • Third Line: Alliteration /c/ and /r/. Epithet: “cold music”.

Stanza 12

  • First Line: Alliteration /c/. Simile: “like a ghostly cricket”. Paronomasia and onomatopoeia: “cricket/creaking”.
  • Second Line: Alliteration /d/. Personification and paradox: “Venice spent what Venice earned”. Duplication: “Venice… Venice”. Metaphor: “Dust and ashes”.
  • Third Line: Alliteration /s/ and liquids. Irony: “doubtless”. Repetition and anaphora: “soul”.

Stanza 13

  • First Line: Alliteration /s/. Lexical set: “physics”, “geology”, “mathematics”.
  • Second Line: Alliteration /s/. Personification: “souls shall rise”.
  • Third Line: Alliteration /t/. Personification: “butterflies may dread”.

Stanza 14

  • First Line: Alliteration /r/ and nasals. Metaphor: “merely born to bloom and drop”. Simile: “as for Venice”.
  • Second Line: Alliteration /r/. The whole verse is a metaphor. Metonymy: “crop”.
  • Third Line: Alliteration /t/.

Stanza 15

: -First line. Alliteration /t/. Personification: “the heart to scold”. -Second line. Alliteration liquids /r/ and /l/. Paronomaxy: “dear”, “dead”. -Third line. Alliteration nasals. Metaphor: “scold”.

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