Robert Browning's "A Toccata of Galuppi's": Mortality and Music

Robert Browning's "A Toccata of Galuppi's": An Analysis

Voice

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

Mood

The overall mood is melancholic and sad, although there are moments of joy interspersed throughout.

Summary

The scientist reflects on death and contemplates his own mortality.

Stanza 11

The scientist refers to how Galuppi's music is played while he is working on his scientific problems.

Stanza 12

Galuppi speaks to him through the music, telling the scientist about the inevitability of death and how it ultimately came to the people of Venice.

Stanza 13

Galuppi continues speaking to the scientist. There is a conflict between reason (the idea that there is nothing after death) and faith ("you'll not die, it cannot be!").

Stanza 14

The people of Venice spent their lives playing and partying, but death came to them, and they disappeared.

Stanza 15

After Galuppi's words, the scientist reflects on immortality and the fact that he will not be able to escape death.

Summary of the Whole Poem

The first stanzas express sadness and how music evokes a city long past. This highlights the power of art to immortalize. It describes people partying at a ball, but these people eventually die. Gradually, the pianist is overcome by the sense of decadence that seems to lie behind the music, and finally, he reflects on his own mortality. The poem begins with a carnival and a celebration of life but ends in the gloom of the inevitability of death and decay.

Topic

The topic of this third part (stanzas 11-15) is tempus fugit (time flies).

Meter

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

Stanza 11: Literary Devices

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

Stanza 12: Literary Devices

• First line: Alliteration of /c/. Simile: "like a ghostly cricket." Paronomasia and onomatopoeia: "cricket/creaking."
• Second line: Alliteration of /d/. Personification and paradox: "Venice spent what Venice earned." Duplication: "Venice...Venice." Metaphor: "Dust and ashes."
• Third line: Alliteration of /s/ and liquids. Irony: "doubtless." Repetition: "soul," which is also an anaphora.

Stanza 13: Literary Devices

• First line: Alliteration of /s/. Lexical set: "physics," "geology," "mathematics."
• Second line: Alliteration of /s/. Personification: "souls shall rise."
• Third line: Alliteration of /t/. Personification: "butterflies may dread."

Stanza 14: Literary Devices

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

Stanza 15: Literary Devices

• First line: Alliteration of /t/. Personification: "the heart to scold."
• Second line: Alliteration of liquids /r/ and /l/. Paronomasia: "dear," "dead."
• Third line: Alliteration of nasals. Metaphor: "scold."

Commentary

Robert Browning's purpose here is to make us feel the transitory nature of all life, as reflected through the Venetian people. It is a very interesting reflection conveyed in a unique way, using Galuppi's music to evoke life in past Venice and also to discuss death and its inevitability. It will come for all of us, for those who dedicate their lives to festivities and for those who work and live by their efforts. There is also a subtle element about the survival of someone through their own work, as in this case, the scientist can see and feel the reality of those Venetian carnivals through Galuppi's toccata.

Initially, the meaning of this poem may be difficult to grasp. However, after careful analysis, its magnificence becomes apparent.