Hymn to Proserpine

Keeping the above in mind, consider what the speaker says of Christianity, of why he prefers paganism, and of what he now wishes for. Also, since these two poems (and later, Eliot's "Journey of the Magi") focus on "outsiders'" views of Christianity, TRY to draw some comparisons to Browning's "Karshish."

The poem is from the point of view of a speaker that obviously has a preference for the Rome gods as opposed to the Christian God. The speaker here is a poet himself, “I am sick of singing; the bays burn deep and chafe.” It seems that he’s more concerned with losing the old religion. “O gods dethroned and deceased, cast forth, wiped out in a day!” He’s stubborn about this, “Wilt thou yet take all, Galilean? But these thou shalt not take-//The laurel, the palms, and the paean, the breasts of the nymphs in the brake” It’s almost as if he expects to wait this out, “Though all men abase them before you in spirit, and all knees bend,//I kneel not, neither adore you, but standing look to the end.” Browning’s “Karshish” took more of a scientific approach to the concept of Christianity. There the author was an educated man of science as opposed to stubborn poet. The poet speaker of Hymn was in denial and almost mourning the loss of his religion, while Karshish took a more hands off point of view, something I’d call a true outsider because he didn’t seem to take the growing Christianity as some sort of invasion.