1. A Grammarian’s Funeral
Last in cluster from 1855 Men and Women
Funeral of Grammarian – man who focuses on the study of grammar (likely ancient languages)
What do we know about this poem?
What does the title tell us?

2. Context
Epigraph: “Shortly after the revival of learning in Europe” Set in c14th Italy, during the early Renaissance. The Renaissance was marked by a revival of interest in Greek and Latin learning, including the languages. ‘The Grammarian’ of the poem would have been a scholar of the classical languages, instrumental in the recovery of ancient texts (remember the brown manuscripts from ‘Bishop’?). These grammarians were the foundation of the Renaissance but were often the butt of jokes and satirised.

3. This poem is about...
In this poem, the Grammarian’s former students (one of which is the speaker) are performing his eulogy and carrying his corpse to its burial place atop a mountain. The Grammarian has passed away after spending his whole life in study. The poem is about his life, as seen by the speaker (his disciple). He speaks as they move the body from the plains to the mountain-top.

4. Language and Imagery

5. Fields and villages of the common folk
Let us begin and carry up this corpse,         Singing together. Leave we the common crofts, the vulgar thorpes         Each in its tether Sleeping safe on the bosom of the plain, 5         Cared-for till cock-crow: Look out if yonder be not day again         Rimming the rock-row! That's the appropriate country; there, man's thought,         Rarer, intenser, Self-gathered for an outbreak, as it ought,        Chafes in the censer.
Small radius
The high land
“us” – he is one of a group, but he is commanding them. They are singing and celebrating the life of the grammarian, carrying his body “up”.
The plains are ‘vulgar’ and ‘common’, ‘safe’ in sleep (ignorance); beyond the ‘rock row’ is more ‘appropriate’ for the grammarian – there’s men’s thought is ‘rarer’ and more intense, just as the air becomes purer and rarer as you go higher. The mountain is a symbol of high purpose and thought, and where this occurs men will struggle to break free from restraint. They will ‘self gather’ to break out.
Struggles against restraint

6. Burial place
Leave we the unlettered plain its herd and crop;        Seek we sepulture On a tall mountain, citied to the top,        Crowded with culture! All the peaks soar, but one the rest excels;        Clouds overcome it; No! yonder sparkle is the citadel's        Circling its summit Thither our path lies; wind we up the heights:        Wait ye the warning? Our low life was the level's and the night's;        He's for the morning. Step to a tune, square chests, erect each head, 25        'Ware the beholders! This is our master, famous, calm and dead,        Borne on our shoulders.
Are you ready for the signal?
3. The mountain is as cultured and learned as a city, “crowded with culture”. The right place for a man of learning like the grammarian. Cf other references to cities (Up at a Villa/ Love Among) and the idea of their high culture. Contrasts with country ‘herd and crop’.
4a. Images of success and intellect: ‘soar’ ‘excel’ ‘no’ clouds overcome it; it has a citadel at the top which sparkles.
4b. Citadel = city. It is sparkling with life and vitality. Also sense of protection; this is a natural home for an intellectual devoted to learning.
5. They are ‘low’ and of the ‘night’ – he is the ‘morning’. Cf light/dark
6. Pride and esteem- he wants them to know who they are carrying; they are carrying him deliberately on display. “master” = he was their leader; ‘famous’ = esteem; ‘borne’ on their shoulders = physical sign of their praise and honour for him, the height they see him at.
Be aware, the watchers!

7. Sleep, crop and herd! sleep, darkling thorpe and croft,        Safe from the weather! He, whom we convoy to his grave aloft,        Singing together, He was a man born with thy face and throat,        Lyric Apollo! Long he lived nameless: how should spring take note 35        Winter would follow?
Till lo, the little touch, and youth was gone!        Cramped and diminished, Moaned he, "New measures, other feet anon!        My dance is finished"?
God of poetry; presented as handsome
7. Sleep = ignorance. They are safe, no risk, no rigour. In the ‘dark’.
8. He got old before he realised. His youth (and looks) disappeared into his learning and he became ‘cramped and diminished’. He is missing out on life but refers to his “dance”, suggesting joy.

8. No, that's the world's way: (keep the mountain-side, Make for the city
No, that's the world's way: (keep the mountain-side,        Make for the city!) He knew the signal, and stepped on with pride        Over men's pity; Left play for work, and grappled with the world 45        Bent on escaping: "What's in the scroll," quoth he, "thou keepest furled        Show me their shaping, Theirs who most studied man, the bard and sage,--        Give!"--So, he gowned him, Straight got by heart that book to its last page:        Learned, we found him.
poet
Wise person
9. Pride and regard for the grammarian.
10a. They pity him because he got old quickly and spent his youth studying; he doesn’t care, he’s proud.
10b. “left play for work” “grappled” with a world determined not to be understood (“escaping”) ; “furled” scrolls, hiding their message. He has had to work hard to ‘unfurl’ them and for them to show their ‘shaping’. He has tackled the ancient poets and wise men; those who most studied, he has studied. “Give!” = demands their work. “straight got by heart” = learned it by heart. Admiration.
Became a scholar

9. Yea, but we found him bald too, eyes like lead,        Accents uncertain: "Time to taste life," another would have said, 55        "Up with the curtain!" This man said rather, "Actual life comes next?        Patience a moment! Grant I have mastered learning's crabbed text,        Still there's the comment Let me know all! Prate not of most or least,        Painful or easy! Even to the crumbs I'd fain eat up the feast,        Ay, nor feel queasy." Oh, such a life as he resolved to live,        When he had learned it, When he had gathered all books had to give!        Sooner, he spurned it. Image the whole, then execute the parts--        Fancy the fabric Quite, ere you build, ere steel strike fire from quartz,        Ere mortar dab brick!
The commentary
11. bald, leaden eyes – physical toll of his studies. “Yea” = informal, almost colloquial. Are they mocking him? Affectionate?
12. Alliteration of ‘time to taste life’ adds force to idea of taste: impression of sampling things, trying them out (another form of learning and growing). Has the grammarian lost out on this? Is it he ‘bent on escaping’ rather than life itself? (46) his learning through books means he is missing out on learning through life itself- creates our pity (although he rejects this – line 44).
13. A “feast” – he wants to read books about books he has read; he wants the most/least, the painful/easy, the crumbs and the feast – his appetite for learning cannot be sated. Is this a waste? Do we admire him? Sense of ‘feasting’ = greed – is Browning trying to make us disapprove?
Are the last few lines here a warning against taking on this life lightly? Do any of the students want this for themselves?
structure

10. (Here's the town-gate reached: there's the market-place        Gaping before us.) Yea, this in him was the peculiar grace        (Hearten our chorus!) That before living he'd learn how to live--        No end to learning: Earn the means first--God surely will contrive        Use for our earning Others mistrust and say, "But time escapes:        Live now or never!" He said, "What's time? Leave Now for dogs and apes!        Man has Forever." Back to his book then: deeper drooped his head: 85        Calculus racked him: Leaden before, his eyes grew dross of lead:        Tussis attacked him.
Gallstones or kidney stones (from ‘the stone’, used for counting)
14. Repetition of ‘live’ – can you learn how to live from books? Is ‘living’ the opposite of ‘learning’?
15. Sense of immortality (line 83): is the Grammarian mistaken in his belief? Evidence: ‘deeper drooped his head’ = old age. Racked with kidney stones and cough, leaden eyes, “attacked” by ill health. Sense of impending death, after all this is his funeral. Capital ‘N’ on ‘Now’ draws our attention to it: Browning wants us to notice the ‘now’ around us now. Is he warning against neglect of life? ‘Calculus’ suggests he has moved on to mathematics; he will not stop even for the sake of his health.
A cough

11. "Now, master, take a little rest. "--not he. (Caution redoubled
"Now, master, take a little rest!"--not he!        (Caution redoubled Step two abreast, the way winds narrowly!)        Not a whit troubled, Back to his studies, fresher than at first,        Fierce as a dragon He (soul-hydroptic with a sacred thirst)        Sucked at the flagon. Oh, if we draw a circle premature,        Heedless of far gain, Greedy for quick returns of profit, sure        Bad is our bargain! Was it not great? did not he throw on God,        (He loves the burthen)-- God's task to make the heavenly period        Perfect the earthen? Did not he magnify the mind, show clear        Just what it all meant? He would not discount life, as fools do here,        Paid by instalment.
Unquenchable thirst in his soul
A pitcher
16. He has a “dropped head” and eyes full of lead – he is not dragon-like, but is crippled with ill-health. Dragons are strong and fierce. This is an old man who is ‘sucking’ at a flagon. The speaker admires him but does Browning? Do we? Dragon is a bit of a cliché, suggesting bravado rather than true sentiment.
17. Man should focus on eternity, not the present (the ‘Now’)- we should work for the ‘heavenly period’ which will perfect that time spent preparing on earth. This will ‘magnify the mind’ and solve the mysteries of life (‘what it all meant’) – the grammarian was spending time on the bigger questions for a reward in heaven. The ‘fools’ are those who ‘pay by instalment’ and ‘discount’ life. They take immediate pleasure (‘dance’ ‘life’) over eternity.
Questions asked but not answered. Is the speaker sure? Are we?

12. He ventured neck or nothing--heaven's success        Found, or earth's failure: "Wilt thou trust death or not?" He answered "Yes:        Hence with life's pale lure!" That low man seeks a little thing to do,        Sees it and does it: This high man, with a great thing to pursue,        Dies ere he knows it. That low man goes on adding one to one,        His hundred's soon hit: This high man, aiming at a million,        Misses an unit That, has the world here--should he need the next,        Let the world mind him! This, throws himself on God, and unperplexed        Seeking shall find him.
18. Suggests he has not really experienced it. It holds no colour or vitality for him. He instead trusts in death (the afterlife) and ‘heaven’s success’.
19. The “low man” focuses on “little things” – does it and gets to 100. the “high man” (“this” high man, i.e. The Grammarian) pursues greatness into the afterlife and aims higher, at a million. Therefore the high man is greater. OR - The low man sees and achieves the little things in life, 100 is low but none is wasted. The high man focuses on one great aim and misses everything else. Time flies by, as it did for the grammarian. He dies before he achieves his aim.
‘low man’ has the world here, now. The world notices (‘minds’) him. The ‘high man’ seeks and finds god. Learning = godliness.

13. Greek articles which present difficulty for students: ‘Hoti’ = that; ‘Oun’ = then; ‘De’ = towards.
Browning to Tennyson: “I wanted the Grammarian ‘dead from the waist down’ to spend his last breath on the biggest of the littlenesses; such a one is the ‘enclitic De’.”
So, with the throttling hands of death at strife,        Ground he at grammar; Still, thro' the rattle, parts of speech were rife:        While he could stammer He settled Hoti's business--let it be!--        Properly based Oun Gave us the doctrine of the enclitic De,        Dead from the waist down. Well, here's the platform, here's the proper place:        Hail to your purlieus, All ye highfliers of the feathered race,        Swallows and curlews!
20a. Sense of life ending, old age and hardship taking its toll. But still he works on. Work is tough but he is dedicated. His voice is barely there but still he teaches his students about difficult grammar. “throttling” is personification of death = sense of him reaching for the Grammarian. Vivid image. “Gr” sound unattractive = painful, unpleasant life. Is this really aspirational?
20b. Brings to mind ‘crumbs’ from earlier in poem; also ‘small things’ – is he so different to the men who seek small things in life? Is this truly a noble cause? The speaker thinks so – do we? Does browning?
20c. Height = learning. Birds = freedom. ‘high flyer’ = success.
Greek: word dependent for its stress on the preceding word
Piece of land near a place; the ‘usual haunt’

14. Here's the top-peak; the multitude below        Live, for they can, there: This man decided not to Live but Know--        Bury this man there? Here--here's his place, where meteors shoot, clouds form,        Lightnings are loosened, Stars come and go! Let joy break with the storm,        Peace let the dew send! Lofty designs must close in like effects:        Loftily lying, Leave him--still loftier than the world suspects,        Living and dying.
21a. Exalted and elevated: “top peak”, above the ignorant “multitude” below. Fantastic: meteors shoot, clouds form; a fitting place for a great man. Suggests achievements in understanding, literature and science. He is ‘lightning’ as opposed to the darkness below.
21b. Alliteration of “l”– linking to idea of “Life” and “living”. “this man decided not to live but know”. Did the grammarian live his life to achieve greatness and thus deserve this lofty end? Or did he shut himself up in a room and die without living?
Capitalisation of ‘Live and Know’: emphasises choice. Did the grammarian use his life to the full?

15. Imagery
Mountain represents greatness and higher thoughts; culture and learning
Plains are meant for uncouth, unlearned people (where the villagers sleep under darkness – under ignorance)
Distinction between ‘this’ and ‘that’, ‘low’ and ‘high’ etc.

16. Form
Dramatic monologue – the speaker is a member of the funeral procession and gives high praise to his former master
First person plural – he speaks on behalf of a group
Is he an objective speaker?
Does the Grammarian evoke our admiration or our pity?

17. Structure
Rhyme: ababcdcdefef – adds to the sense of marching; their footsteps match each others; some words spelled the same but do not sound alike: e.g. live/contrive (line 79). One can’t know all?
Shifting metre (longer tetrameter (5); shorter dimeter (2)) also matches this climb
Parenthesis (brackets) hold commands from the speaker; he is assuming the role of new master
Capital letters to stress themes in poem: ‘Life’ ‘Knowledge’ ‘Now’