Discuss Browning’s Presentation of Failure in ‘Pictor Ignotus’.
Robert Browning’s ‘Pictor Ignotus’, which is Latin for ‘unknown painter’, is a poem detailing the thoughts of an early renaissance painter. The speaker is an old, traditional artist who is struggling to compete with the younger painters of the day and who seeks to explain his perceived lack of success. Browning explores the effects of fame, criticism and, crucially, failure on the anonymous artist whose thoughts are scrutinised as he discusses his life and work.
Browning conveys to the reader the underlying bitterness of the unknown painter and his anger at the sense of failure which he feels. The dissatisfaction of the artist is made clear throughout the poem through his own speech. In describing how he chose his ‘portion’ in life, he also expresses the pain it now causes him as his ‘heart sinks’ whilst he paints repetitive religious works, an occupation forced by his failure to become a commercial success in the competitive art world of renaissance Italy. His bitterness s further emphasised through his aggressive manner of speech described by Browning’s use of sibilance. The use of sibilance, ‘saddens while it soothes’, gives the words of the painter a malicious edge as they are spat out venomously showing his frustration at his failure. The speaker’s asperity is also illustrated by his scornful remarks about his contemporaries. He belittles the success of another, younger artist whom he sarcastically alludes to as ‘that youth ye praise so’. This shows the spite which a sense of failure has instilled in the speaker causing him to lash out at others because of their own successes. In his fantasies he also imagines the successful youth ‘learning at my feet’ as he wishes to be visibly superior to those who he considers himself above. In this way, failure is portrayed as a corrupting influence which darkens the minds of those which it infects.
The feelings of regret caused by failure are exposed through Browning’s choice of language and vivid imagery. Modal verbs and the conditional tense are employed frequently by Browning to convey to the reader the nostalgic heartache of the speaker. He repeatedly refers to things which he ‘could’ have done or which ‘should’ have happened as he reminisces about the possibilities which were available to him. The sadness which exudes from the speaker is indicative of a deep regret for his inability to reach the successes which were once within his grasp. The wistful dreaming of the painter also illustrates the sorrow which his failure has left him with. Browning repeatedly references the vivid dreams of the artist in which he fantasises of ‘making new hearts beat and bosoms swell’ and basking in ‘love’ and ‘praise’ for his work. Browning makes clear the regularity of these thoughts as he exclaims ‘Nor will I say I have not dreamed (how well!)’ which shows the depth of the regret felt by the artist who is forced to repeatedly imagine how his life could be with the success he has never achieved. Such is the extent of the painter’s regret that he is forced to pull himself, when he shouts ‘enough!’, from his own regression into delusion. Through these devices Browning is able to depict failure as the result of missed opportunities and gives us cause to pity the artist.
A certain level of denial is made apparent by Browning as the painter seeks to reduce the effects of his failure through a self-imposed ignorance. Despite the speaker’s clear dissatisfaction with his lot he continually attempts to claim success, even if it is by his own, half-hearted measure. The painter claims that his failure is of his own choice and, as such, is not a failure at all when he states that ‘never did fate forbid’ him. The self-deception of the speaker is also apparent simply through the form of the poem; it is a dramatic monologue, written in a single, rambling stanza, which is intended to convince both the listener, and the artist himself, that he has not been a failure. Browning also uses metaphor as a device to allow the painter to indirectly dismiss the benefits of the fame which he so clearly craves. The poem ends with the question ‘tastes sweet the water with such specks of earth?’ in which the painter is suggesting that the fame and glory of success are merely pollutants which defile the purity of art. He further belittles the artists who enjoy success when he mocks them for being ‘partakers of their daily pettiness’ and claims to, ‘at least’, be happy to paint humble religious images. This is a philosophy appreciated by Browning himself who believed that success is not always instant or material but that “a minute’s success pays the failure of years” and would come to those deserving of it. In this way he attempts to console himself and almost refuses to accept the failure which he fears so greatly.
The effect which failure has had on the mind of the artist is suggested by Browning and the way in which the character of the speaker is constructed through his various mannerisms. Punctuation is effectively utilised in order to present the thoughts of the reader in a confused and desperate way. Browning frequently uses ellipsis and parenthesis which create a wandering and stuttered impression of the speaker’s thoughts, suggesting a somewhat frenzied mentality. The only time when the thoughts of the speaker seem clear and organised are when he speaks of his dreams of fame. Enjambment and long verse length are used in the painter’s vivid descriptions of his talent alongside the continual use of commas to emphasise the rambling, pensive nature of his elderly mind. When describing his artistic abilities, Browning uses this complex sentence structure such as ‘wide to heaven, or, straight like thunder, sunk to the centre’ to show the elaborate thoughts which comfort the failed painter.
Failure is portrayed as a multidimensional and highly subjective concept with far reaching consequences for those which it affects. The artist in ‘Pictor Ignotus’ is faced by many of the aspects of failure at once. He regrets his lack of success and is embittered by the triumphs of others, but simultaneously he does not fully accept that he has become a failure as he questions; ‘holds their praise its worth?’. Browning is able to use the highly critical world of art, and the obsession of artists with how their work is perceived, to create a character which exhibits all of the consequences of failure.