Welcome to Poem of the Day – The Soul’s Expression by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
In The Soul’s Expression, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, one of the most revered British poets of the 19th century, explores the profound tension between the inner nature of the soul and the limitations of human expression. Through a rich tapestry of metaphors and imagery, Browning delves into the poet’s struggle to articulate the depths of feeling, thought, and spiritual experience that reside within. The poem is a meditation on the limitations of language and the dangers of attempting to express the inexpressible, highlighting the distance between the spiritual and the sensual, the eternal and the earthly. This essay will explore Browning’s exploration of the soul’s struggle for expression, the symbolic use of music and sound, and the ultimate tension between transcendence and mortality that runs through the poem.
The Soul’s Expression
WITH stammering lips and insufficient sound
I strive and struggle to deliver right
That music of my nature, day and night
With dream and thought and feeling interwound
And inly answering all the senses round
With octaves of a mystic depth and height
Which step out grandly to the infinite
From the dark edges of the sensual ground.
This song of soul I struggle to outbear
Through portals of the sense, sublime and whole,
And utter all myself into the air:
But if I did it, — as the thunder-roll
Breaks its own cloud, my flesh would perish there,
Before that dread apocalypse of soul.
The Soul’s Expression Explanation
The opening lines of The Soul’s Expression set the stage for the central struggle of the poem: the challenge of articulating the soul’s deep, mystical truths:
“With stammering lips and insufficient sound
I strive and struggle to deliver right
That music of my nature, day and night.”
The phrase “stammering lips” conveys an immediate sense of difficulty and inadequacy in the act of communication. Browning introduces the motif of speech as an imperfect means to express what lies within, as the speaker battles with a stilted voice that can hardly do justice to the profound “music” of the soul. The repeated struggle to “deliver right” indicates that the speaker’s soul is full of unspoken thoughts, feelings, and desires that cannot easily be captured by words. This stammering, which evokes both physical and emotional discomfort, suggests the challenge that every artist, poet, or thinker faces when trying to translate the ineffable into the language of the senses.
The idea of “insufficient sound” reinforces the theme of inadequacy in communication. No matter how much the speaker strives, their expression is always lacking—insufficient for the task at hand. This struggle reflects an existential concern that often arises in poetry: the fear that language is not up to the task of conveying the true essence of the self or the universe. The connection to music is crucial here; music, with its ethereal beauty and emotional resonance, seems to be the ideal form of expression—one that transcends the physicality of words and allows the soul to communicate on a deeper, more universal level.
The Musical Metaphor: Mysticism and the Infinite
As the poem progresses, the musical metaphor intensifies, representing the complex interplay between thought, feeling, and the eternal:
“That music of my nature, day and night
With dream and thought and feeling interwound
And inly answering all the senses round
With octaves of a mystic depth and height
Which step out grandly to the infinite
From the dark edges of the sensual ground.”
The phrase “music of my nature” encapsulates the speaker’s innermost essence, a melody composed of dreams, thoughts, and feelings, all interwoven in an intricate dance. These elements are not separate but mutually interdependent, working together to form the speaker’s “nature.” The use of “octaves” evokes a sense of musicality, and the idea of reaching “grandly to the infinite” suggests that the soul’s music has a transcendental quality, extending beyond the limitations of the physical world into the realm of the eternal and the divine. Browning thus aligns the soul’s expression with the sublime, implying that the true essence of the self is infinite and beyond the grasp of ordinary sensory experience.
The tension between the “dark edges of the sensual ground” and the boundless “infinite” suggests the poem’s central conflict—the human soul’s desire to reach higher planes of existence, to transcend the limitations of the physical body and its senses. The “sensual ground” may refer to the everyday world of material experience, a realm that is in constant contrast with the aspirations of the soul. The journey from the sensory to the spiritual—represented through the “octaves” of music—is not a smooth or easy one. It involves the struggle to reconcile the physical with the spiritual, the finite with the infinite. This duality is at the heart of Browning’s meditation on artistic creation and human expression.
The Dangers of Full Expression: Flesh and Spirit
In the latter part of the poem, Browning delves into the potential consequences of fully realizing the soul’s expression:
“This song of soul I struggle to outbear
Through portals of the sense, sublime and whole,
And utter all myself into the air:
But if I did it, — as the thunder-roll
Breaks its own cloud, my flesh would perish there,
Before that dread apocalypse of soul.”
Here, the poet acknowledges that the soul’s expression is not only difficult but dangerous. The act of fully articulating the soul’s music, of bringing it into the material world, is likened to a “thunder-roll” that “breaks its own cloud.” The thunder is a force of nature, powerful and uncontrollable, and in the same way, the speaker’s attempt to fully reveal the soul’s truth is both destructive and overwhelming. The idea that “my flesh would perish there” suggests that the body cannot bear the full weight of the soul’s expression. It is as though the soul’s music, when fully released, would be too much for the earthly realm and too intense for the human body to endure. The phrase “dread apocalypse of soul” reinforces the catastrophic potential of this moment, evoking images of a final, world-altering revelation that is beyond the capacity of mere mortals to handle.
This idea speaks to a key theme in Browning’s work—the tension between spiritual and physical realms. The soul, in its purest, most unfiltered form, transcends the human body and its limitations. While the soul is capable of reaching infinite heights, the body is bound by earthly constraints. The speaker recognizes that to express the full depth of the soul would lead to its own destruction, thus highlighting the fragility of the human condition.
The Paradox of Expression and Silence
Ultimately, The Soul’s Expression reveals a paradox—the very act of expressing the soul’s innermost music leads to its destruction, while silence, in a sense, preserves the soul. This tension between expression and silence is not unique to Browning’s work but is a central theme in many works of British poetry and Romantic literature. Poets often grapple with the idea that full expression may not only be impossible but potentially destructive, as in the case of The Soul’s Expression, where the revelation of the soul’s deepest desires and truths could lead to self-annihilation. The poem suggests that some aspects of the soul—its greatest depths—are beyond human comprehension or articulation.
Conclusion
In The Soul’s Expression, Elizabeth Barrett Browning explores the struggle for self-expression in the face of overwhelming inner truths. Using rich metaphors of music, nature, and spiritual transcendence, Browning reflects on the inherent limitations of language and the perilous act of revealing the soul’s deepest desires. The poem’s focus on the soul’s music—its mystical depth and infinite reach—emphasizes the gap between the finite human experience and the boundless nature of spiritual existence. Ultimately, Browning suggests that while the soul’s expression is a noble endeavor, it is one fraught with danger and difficulty, as the physical body is unable to sustain the full revelation of the soul’s power.
Through its meditative tone and careful use of imagery, The Soul’s Expression is a striking reflection on the paradox of human existence—the struggle to express the inexpressible, and the recognition that in seeking to give voice to our innermost selves, we may encounter the limits of human frailty. In this regard, Browning’s poem invites readers to ponder the mystery of existence, the tension between body and spirit, and the profound beauty that resides in both the attempt and the silence.
