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Proverb Lore in the Ring and the Book

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

Cornelia Marschall Smith
Cornelia Marschall Smith*
Affiliation:
Baylor University
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Extract

Scholars have identified very few proverbs and proverbial phrases in Browning's poetry. He is credited with only one by Apperson, five by Smith, three by Hodell, ten by Cook, and three by Birrell. Of these twenty-one proverbs the foregoing scholars cite sixteen as occurring in The Ring and the Book. Investigation, however, reveals that seventeen of them and ninety-five additional ones are found in that poem. Listed in the order of their appearance in The Ring and the Book, with their occurrences in Browning's other poems indicated, these one hundred twelve proverbs are:

Stung to the quick. 653.19; 831.67; Touched to the quick. 837.75; Incident of the French Camp, 333.38; Balaustion's Adventure, 565.39; Vexed to the quick. Sordello, 106.86; pierce to the quick. Pippa Passes, 185.43; cf. Apperson 642; Smith 138.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , March 1941 , pp. 219 - 229
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1941

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References

Note 1 in page 219 G. L. Apperson, English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1929), p. 537.

Note 2 in page 219 William George Smith and Janet E. Heseltine, The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs (Oxford: Clarendon, 1935), pp. 309, 321, 374, 527, 554.

Note 3 in page 219 Charles W. Hodell, The Old Yellow Book; Source of Browning's The Ring and. the Book in Complete Photo-reproduction with Translation, Essay, and Notes, 2d ed. (Washington: Carnegie Institution, 1908 [1916]), pp. 334, 335.

Note 4 in page 219 A. K. Cook, A Commentary upon Browning's The Ring and the Book (London: Oxford Press, 1920), pp. 44, 80, 103, 149, 195, 197, 211, 227, 267.

Note 5 in page 219 Robert Browning, The Complete Poetical Works, ed. by Augustine Birrell (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1933), pp. 803, 860.

Note 6 in page 219 “Take the golden mean!” is annotated as a maxim by both Birrell (Browning, ed. cit., p. 860) and Cook (op. cit., p. 227).

Note 7 in page 219 Because of its pervasive use in Browning's poetry, “needs must” is excluded from further consideration in this paper. This phrase occurs thirty-three times in The Ring and the Book and one hundred seven times in Browning's other poems; “must needs” occurs seventeen times in The Ring and the Book and forty times in the poet's other poems.

Note 8 in page 219 Nineteen proverbs and proverbial phrases which occur in Browning's other poems, seventeen of which have hitherto been unidentified, established and presented as explained in footnote 9, are: error has no end. Paracelsus, 36.18; cf. Benham 755b.—play the fool. Sordello, 121.80; In a Balcony, 481.37; Aristophanes' Apology, 606.32; 606.57; Parleyings with Christopher Smart, 1259.9; act the fool. Aristophanes' Apology, 597.27; cf. Apperson 501.—all was for best. Saul, 241.10; all is best for all. Colombe's Birthday, 314.7; All's best as ‘tis. Ibid., 317.50; All is for the best. Ibid., 331.60; All's for best. The Italian in England, 343.45; In wisdom which made all things for the best. Luria, 400.12; cf. Benham 733a.—Love conquers all things. A Blot in the ‘Scutcheon, 296.56; cf. Benham 489b.—It's a long lane that knows no turnings. The Flight of the Duchess, 366.7; cf. Apperson 379; Smith 226.—hail fellow, well met. Fra Lippa Lippi, 447.40; Pacchiarono, 1061.47; cf. Apperson 277.—Faces, arms, legs and bodies like the true As much as pea and pea! Fra Lippa Lippi, 448.63–64; We both should be like as pea and pea. James Lee's Wife, 491.47; cf. Apperson 366; Smith 50.—I doubt if they're half baked, those chalk rosettes. Bishop Blougram's Apology, 456.26; cf. Apperson 279.—‘Milk that's spilt’—You know the adage! Gold Hair, 493.44–45; cf. Smith 239.—When pain ends gain ends too. A Death in the Desert, 505.79; cf. Smith 321.—Grisi yet lives in clover. Youth and Art, 518.12; I've lived in clover. Mr. Sludge, “The Medium,” 522.52; I live in clover. Ponte dell’ Angelo, Venice, 1302.36; cf. Apperson 104; Smith 528.—Tread on a worm, it turns, sir! Mr. Sludge, “The Medium,” 520.22; cf. Smith 554.—If hunger, proverbs say, allures the wolf from wood, Much more the bird must dare a dash at something good. Fifine at the Fair, 935.5–6; cf. Apperson 318; Smith 194.—All's well that ends well! The Inn Album, 1045.49; Pacchiarotto, 1065.1; cf. Smith 37.—Must . . . Every sweet warn ‘“Ware my bitter!” La Saisiaz, 1127.30–31; cf. Smith 99—What's the adage rife in man's mouth? Why, “The best I both see and praise, the worst I follow.” La Saisiaz, 1130.44–45.—Prove black white, white black, play at paradox. The Two Poets of Croisic, 1149.71; cf. Smith 535.—Who knows most, doubts most; entertaining hope, Means recognizing fear. The Two Poets of Croisic, 1151.12–13; cf. Apperson 310.—In his Annals—gets of it, by hook or by crook. Ponte dell’ Angelo, Venice, 1304.15; cf. Smith 72.

Note 9 in page 220 All reference to Browning's poetical works in this paper are to the edition cited in footnote 5; where page and line numbers only are given the citation is from The Ring and the Book. In establishing the validity of Browning's proverbs and proverbial phrases the following collections are used: Apperson, op. cit.—Benham, W. Gurney. Putnam's Complete Book of Quotations, Proverbs, and Household Words, Revised ed., New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1929.—Browning, op. cit.—Cook, op. cit.—Hazlitt, W. Carew. English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. London: Reeves and Turner, 1907.—Henderson, Alfred. Latin Proverbs and Quotations. London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, 1869.—Hodell, op. cit.—Jente, Richard. “The Proverbs of Shakespeare with Early and Contemporary Parallels.” Reprinted from Washington University Studies, xiii, Humanistic Series, No. 2. 1926. Pp. 391–444.—Lean, Vicent Stuckey. Lean's Collectanea, ii, Part ii. Bristol: Arrowsmith, 1903.—Smith, op. cit.—Tilley, Morris Palmer. Elizabethan Proverb Lore in Lyly's Euphues and in Pettie's Petite Pallace. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1926.

Note 10 in page 227 The four proverbs found in The Old Yellow Book are:

  • a. The done thing, undone? R. B., 785.31; cf. Hodell, op. cit., p. 171; Cook, op. cit., p. 149.

  • b. Furor ministrai arma. R. B., 815.48; cf. Hodell, op. cit., p. 124.

  • c. Cheek meeting jowl as apple may touch pear. R. B., 830.27; cf. Hodell, op. cit., p. 221.

  • d. “Wine is sold,” quoth the bough, “but good or bad, Find and inform us when you smack your lips!” R. B., 840.16–17; cf. Hodell, op. cit., p. 180; Cook, op. cit., p. 197.

Note 11 in page 227 Cf. Hodell, op. cit., p. 252 and Cook, op. cit., pp. 31, 92.

Note 12 in page 228 Cf. Archer Taylor, The Proverb (Cambridge: Harvard Press, 1931), p. 12.

Note 13 in page 228 Cf. Taylor, op. cit., pp. 171–174; and Tilley, op. cit., p. 38.

Note 14 in page 228 For a similar reason many classical quotations appear to be introduced into Book ix; cf. Hodell, op. cit., pp. 273, 334.

Note 15 in page 228 Browning, op. cit., p. 736, 11. 69–71.

Note 16 in page 228 “ Ibid., p. 674, 11. 33–37.

Note 17 in page 228 Cf. Bartlett Jere Whiting, Chaucer's Use of Proverbs (Cambridge: Harvard Press, 1934), pp. 17–18.

Note 18 in page 228 Browning, op. cit., p. 654, 11. 81–85.

Note 19 in page 228 Ibid., p. 902, 11. 12–13.

Note 20 in page 229 The Ring and the Book, Half-Rome, and Dominus Hyacinthus de Archangelis.

Note 21 in page 229 Tertium Quid, and Pompilia.

Note 22 in page 229 Dominus Hyacinthus de Archangelis.