“Epilogue” Introduction

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“Epilogue” Summary

“Epilogue” Themes

• 

  Confronting Death and Grief

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• 

  The Value of Hope and Optimism

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Epilogue”

• Lines 1-5

  At the midnight in the silence of the sleep-time,
  When you set your fancies free,
  Will they pass to where—by death, fools think, imprisoned—
  Low he lies who once so loved you, whom you loved so,
  —Pity me?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-10

  Oh to love so, be so loved, yet so mistaken!
  What had I on earth to do
  With the slothful, with the mawkish, the unmanly?
  Like the aimless, helpless, hopeless, did I drivel
  —Being—who?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-15

  One who never turned his back but marched breast forward,
  Never doubted clouds would break,
  Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
  Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
  Sleep to wake.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 16-20

  No, at noonday in the bustle of man's work-time
  Greet the unseen with a cheer!
  Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be,
  "Strive and thrive!" cry "Speed,—fight on, fare ever
  There as here!"

  

  

  

  

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“Epilogue” Symbols

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  Midnight and Noonday

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“Epilogue” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Juxtaposition

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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“Epilogue” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Fancies
• Slothful
• Mawkish
• Drivel
• Worsted
• Baffled
• Strive

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Epilogue”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Epilogue” Speaker

“Epilogue” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Epilogue”

More “Epilogue” Resources

• External Resources

  • "Epilogue" Aloud — Listen to a reading of "Epilogue."

  • Browning's Life and Work — Learn more about Browning's life and how it informed his poetry via the British Library.

  • A "Mistaken" Speaker — An article on how scholars have misinterpreted "Epilogue" and its speaker. Browning admitted regretting his word choice and always intended the "you" who is "mistaken" in the poem's second stanza to refer to the reader or audience (rather than Browning himself). 

  • The Legacy of Robert Browning — Read an essay celebrating the bicentenary of Browning's birth and learn how Browning continues to influence poetry today. 

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