CHILDE ROLAND TO THE DARK TOWER CAME. (Chi1de Roland,' one of the most powerful and impressive, and perhaps the most widely discussed, of Browning's shorter poems, is a narrative monologue in which °Childe° (or °young lord))) Roland, a medieval knight, tells the story of his quest of the "dark tower)); though to whom he speaks, and when, and where, we never know. The poem, which is in 34 six-line stanzas, was written in one day, 3 Jan. 1852, in Paris, and was first published in the volume entitled 'Men and Women' in 1855. Its title was suggested by a single disconnected line spoken by Edgar in 'King Lear' (eChilde Roland to the dark tower came° ; III, iv, 1. 187) ; and its grotesque imagery is perhaps to be understood only in the light of the unreal and fantastic world of Edgar's fancy. The strangely impressive setting presents a series of pictures as by Albrecht Dfirer, in turn terrific and grotesque, fantastic in the general impression but sharply realistic in detail. In spite of Browning's assurance that the poem is °only a fantasy,° commentators have offered various interpretations of its sup posed allegory, not one of which is without in consistencies that render it invalid. Probably
the poem is best taken, as the poet evidently intended it should be, simply as an effort of the imagination from which each reader may gain what he will. Possibly a broad and safe inter pretation, if the reader insist upon one, is that ilde Roland's quest is the journey of life, with its dangers, failures and successes, its pursuit of an ideal through perils both real and imaginary, and its final triumph through sheer power of will. The climax of the poem is superb in the crashing finality of its long-drawn trumpet blast, defying fate and all unseen malignant forces, and claiming victory even in the midst of apparent defeat. Among the many comments and interpretations may be men tioned that by John Esten Cooke in The Critic (5:201, 24 April 1886) ; by Arlo Bates, in The Critic (5:231, 8 May 1886) ; by Mrs. Orr in her 'Handbook to Browning' ; by J. Kirkman and others in 'The Browning Society Papers' (I:21) ; and by William Lvon Phelps in his 'Browning: How to Know Him' (pp. 231-244).