Pippa Passes - A Drama (Illustrated)

"Pippa Passes" was published in 1841, when Browning was 29 years old. It was the first in the series of eight pamphlets known as "Bells and Pomegranates". When "Pippa Passes" was written, Browning was living in England but had made a journey to Italy in 1838, — a journey which contributed so much to "Sordello", published in 1840. "Pippa Passes"", when it was finished, lay for some time in Browning's desk without a publisher. But he finally arranged with Edward Moxon to bring it out in pamphlet form, very cheap, sixteen pages, two columns to the page. The poem attracted little attention: few cared either to find fault with it or to commend it. And yet it is one of the daintiest and one of the most artistic works of the first half of the nineteenth century. As one of the best critics of Browning has said: ' "Pippa Passes" will be an enduring strength and pleasure to all who love tenderly and think widely.'

1. The poem concerns itself with Asolo, a little walled city of 5000 people at the base of a hill in the province of Treviso, north Italy, 33 miles northwest of Venice. North Italy is famous for its silk industry. There was a silk mill at Asolo when Browning wrote the poem, but it is no longer in operation. Browning visited the town in his first Italian travel and calls it "our delicious Asolo." Forty years later he returned to it, and was very fond of the place to the end. He spent some weeks there the last autumn of his life. It is from the town of Asolo that he derives the name of his last volume of poems, Asolando, published on the day he died.

2. The date when the events in Pippa Passes take place can be approximately fixed:

a. The north of Italy is under Austrian rule, as is very evident from the presence of Austrian police at the end of Noon, and the conversation between Luigi and his mother in Evening. Note especially Luigi's reference to

"How first the Austrians got these provinces,
— Never by conquest but by cunning."

In 1797 by the treaty of Campo-Formio, Austria gained possession of Venetia, a large division of north Italy, but lost it to France in 1805. But by act of the Congress of Vienna (its final act dated June 9, 1815), Austria received all the Italian territory she had held and Lombardy4 in addition. This gave her most of the provinces north of the Po, and made her the dominating power in all Italy. This position she continued to hold until she lost Lombardy in 1859 and Venetia in 1866.

b. Prince Metternich-Winneburg is living:

"Says he should like to be Prince Metternich."

This statesman, so hated by Italian patriots, was Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Austrian government from 1809 to 1848, and also Chancellor 1821-48. He died in Vienna in 1859. The fact that Browning's poem was written before 1841 narrows the possible range of date.

c. Francis I, Emperor of Austria, is the oppressor against whom Luigi is so stirred:

"Old Franz,
Come down and meet your fate."

He became Emperor in 1792 and died in 1835. His death establishes the superior limit. That the date of the action falls in the closing years of his reign is plain from the fact that Luigi calls him old Franz and Luigi's mother also speaks of him as old.

d. Luigi is suspected of being connected with the Carbonari. The Carbonari were a secret society of patriotic Italians, organized for the purpose of throwing off foreign domination. The society originated in Naples not long before 1814, against the rule of the French there, but soon spread all over Italy. The Carbonari movement was partly crushed by Austria, and was gradually absorbed into or superseded by Mazzini's "Young Italy" society organized in 1831.

e. Silvio Pellico is considered by Luigi's mother as typical of the writers who are stirring up the people:

"Your Pellicos and writers for effect."

Pellico was arrested by the Austrian government in 1820 and imprisoned till 1830. He died in 1854.

f. We gain no assistance from Luigi's mention of former conspirators against Austria:

"Andrea from his exile,
Pier from his dungeon, Gualtier from his grave!"

Luigi gives the names familiarly, and it is difficult to identify them, and even if this could be done, it would hardly help to fix the date more closely.

g. The marks of time of most account are those touching the Emperor and Prince Metternich. These do not absolutely determine the date but they define it pretty narrowly, and the other more general indications are in harmony with them. We may say unhesitatingly that the scene of Pippa Passes is laid near the end of the reign of the Austrian Emperor Francis I. Probably some time 1830 is what Browning had in mind. Much of the information as to local conditions came from his visit of 1838, when things were, no doubt, in practically the same shape as a few years earlier.