A Grammarian’s Funeral by Robert Browning was published in the poetry collection Men and Women in 1855. The poem describes the life of a Grammarian who dedicates his life for the cause of learning. The speaker of the dramatic monologue ‘A Grammarian’s Funeral’ is the disciple of the grammarian. In his speech he glorifies the ardent devotion of his master, the grammarian. He argues in favour of meditative life and high morals. A dramatic monologue, as a poetic device, is basically a long speech delivered by one person. Browning also successfully moves into political undertone in his other poems such as Incident of the French Camp
As a dramatic monologue, the poem has one speaker and a passive listeners. The speaker is one of the disciples of the grammarian and the passive listeners include the readers or the other disciples who are carrying the corpse of the grammarian. The dramatic monologue gives the discourse of a character, situations or any events without letting any outsider or passive listener to interrupt in between. Hence, the disciple gives a lengthy discourse without letting any other outsider interrupt his discourse on the grammarian.
The dramatic monologue always begins with a critical speech and situation. The poem begins with a critical event of the decease grammarian. They decided to carry his body to the mountain top symbolizing his enriched knowledge and ideals. His funeral and place of cemetery should be a specific one because the light that will shine upon the cemetery of the grammarian will enlighten the other dark villages and hence the grammarian is symbolized as a civilization for humanity or the light in terms of guiding humanity.
As a dramatic monologue, the traits include the insight into the characterization of the character itself. The speaker gives an insightful life and documentary of the grammarian. He states that he lived his life in pursuit of learning and attaining knowledge. The grammarian possessed the beauty of Apollo, the Greek god of beauty and lyric, but he lost the grace due to his constant involvement in learning. He spends most of his life in pursuing the knowledge and when he realized the spring of his youth, he was already old and fragile to live the moment of youth. The old man was aware of the fact that he had grown old and death is inevitable. He was proud of his work as it was his way. He ignored the one who pitied upon him. Like a true learner he concentrated on his work and engaged himself in exploring the mystery of life. He desired to read the scholarly books and discover what the great sages and philosophers found about universe. The speaker admires his master’s efforts and eulogises the grammarian’s choice of working for high aims. The grammarian left the life of enjoyment.
Browning was able to capture the personality traits of the grammarian with the use of dramatic monologue. The master delved deep into the scholarly pursuit and memorised every bit of those treasures of knowledge. He devoted long time in study which ultimately resulted to further deterioration in the health condition of the grammarian. He became bald and his eyes became weak. Even his accents began to falter. The disciple praises his master’s commitment to his passion. He confined himself for the attainment of knowledge with intense devotion. Any other person would have discarded the books and would have come out of seclusion to enjoy the life. The grammarian paid no heed to anyone’s idle talk. The time to enjoy the life had not yet come because he had to learn a lot. Patience was required because the man wanted to acquire every bit of knowledge, no matter how sick he becomes. For the sake of learning he rejects the idea of enjoying life. In these lines of the poem, passion of learning is compared with the act of eating a feast to the crumb.
The detailing narration of the life of Grammarian is fully documented in the poem where the grammarian shows the aspects of Renaissance man and the spirit of Victorianism. His ideals was that of Renaissance and Victorian spirit where people were eager to learn and discover knowledge by developing a sense of moral and ideal quality life for the pursuit of learning. The speaker while narrating the speech acquaints the listener with the lofty ideals of his master. His master believes in knowing life before living. There must be a plan. Life is like a building that has to be planned before construction. When a building is constructed its structure and its design is planned. The required materials are gathered to implement the plan step by step. Stone is broken by the steel into required shape. Then the bricks are plastered by the cement. Similarly, to live life it is necessary to have the knowledge of life. So, the grammarian learned to live. In other words, it is important to understand life. Before enjoying the life the grammarian decided to have knowledge of life. For him there was no end to learning. Furthermore, the traits of Renaissance of Victorian spirit is clearly seen in the poem where he was suffering from diseases like calculus (painful disease) and tussis (bronchial disease). However, such diseases did not discourage him. He became weaker. His eyes became weak but he would not take the advice for rest from his disciples. The old scholar having full faith in god deeply involved himself in his work. He starts working more energetically and fiercely. His energy is like that of a dragon. Dragon is used to symbolise the intense spirit of the grammarian. His soul was thirsty for knowledge. Like a ‘soul-hydroptic’ the scholar desired to suck each and every drop of knowledge. The speaker praises his master’s high aspirations and endless pursuits which was not limited like ordinary people.
As a dramatic monologue, the character sketch of the speaker is also revealed where he is a devotee and a firm belief of teachings of grammarian. He agrees with the teachings of the grammarian and admires his ardent faith in God , failures in life and the rewards in afterlife which the grammarian talks about in his life. The speaker’s eulogy establishes the grammarian as a man of faith and as a man of high and lofty ideals. The dramatic monologue also reveals the speaker’s own motives, attitudes and beliefs. The way the speaker upholds the ideals of his master rejecting all arguments gives an account of his own devotion and dedication towards his master
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