Scott Jezusko

Jessica Jorgenson
ENGL 322 Creative Writing

Summary and Analysis: Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

Written by Robert Browning in 1855, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower
Came is a detailed realization of some nightmare of a world. The poem
consists of 34 six-line stanzas, all equipped with an A-B-B-A-A-B rhyme
scheme. Each line carefully forms iambic pentameter as well, adding to the
subtle details littered through the poem. Browning used hellish imagery
extensively to illustrate the life-long journey of this young knight, Roland,
wherein he gains friends, subsequently losing them, and faces trials and
tribulations in order to achieve his goal of reaching the tower. And that is the
story does Roland get to see the tower? Whatever, the result might have
been, Robert Browning made excellent use of consistent rhyme schemes,
and haunting details that continue to set the mood through the piece.
Perhaps Robert Browning saw himself as Roland while writing the
piece, empathizing with Rolands strife, as writing this poem must have been
painful. Without skipping a beat, each of the 204 lines of the poem have an
iambic pentameter, An arm in mine to fix me to the place, / That way he
usd. Alas, one nights disgrace! (Browning 2). Recognizing this flow actually

makes the poem easier to read since it makes Brownings intent clearer.
Notice, too, that he had himself another constraint; every stanza had a
consistent A-B-B-A-A-B rhyme scheme as well. For example,
Better this present than a past like that;
Back therefore to my darkening path again!
No sound, no sight as far as eye could strain.
Will the night send a howlet of a bat?
I asked: when something on the dismal flat
Came to arrest my thoughts and change their train.
(Browning 3).
This makes for interesting reading, and also suggests that how we say
again today is not that same as 150 years ago. Even through the present
rhyme scheme, the story is not jagged, as it could be in order to force a
comfortable rhyme, showing a sort of innate, or well-practiced skill on
Brownings part. He also finds creative ways to incorporate a fitting rhyme.
Line 28 ends on the word breath, and line 29 is the beginning of a quote,
hence Browning reverts to archaic English, and ends the line with he saith
(Browning 1). While old English adds yet more difficulty to the piece, it can
be fun to read with a touch of extra brain power. Since the story is
interesting, that is not too unreasonable to do.
Robert Browning finds ways to captivate readers, usually due to the
scenes he presents, which provide graphic detail and a wonderful setting of
mood. At the front end of the poem, we have the lines, While some discuss
if near the other graves / Be room enough for this [] (Browning 1). Up until

this point, we read desperation in Rolands goal, but this line paves the
realization that it was known that to join Roland on his journey meant certain
death and everybody knew that. This takes effect within the story, as well.
Roland thinks about the ones hes lost, especially his friends, As a man calls
for wine before he fights, but ultimately, the heartache of loss comes and,
Out went my hearts new fire and left it cold. (Browning 3-4). Again, Roland
is painted as a sad, tortured soul. Browning lets slip a happy moment in
Rolands life, but pain is brought back, leaving only gloom and despair. In
fact, gloom and despair can be seen as a base-coat in the poem. If Roland is
not in pain, then it is instead the surrounding nature. Then came some
palsied oak, a cleft in him / Like a distorted mouth that splits its rim / Gaping
at death, and dies while it recoils (Browning 4). And so, continued on for
several more stanzas Roland is faced with the end. What his end was, thats
to read, but know that there was still pain to be had.
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came is an excellently crafted story,
and has spawned numerous works beyond it as well, notably Stephen Kings
Dark Tower series. It has also been said that this poem is what has kept the
word childe from disappearing it is an archaic English term for a young
nobleman who has yet to prove himself as a knight. It is no surprise though,
as the twisted story of a desperate knight is terribly gripping and hard to
escape. And, as one of Brownings most complex poems, the structure lends
the reader a fair bit of analysis for a deeply intellectual time.
How such a one was strong, and such was bold,

And such was fortunate, yet each of old

Lost, lost! one moment knelld the woe of years.
(Browning 5)

Works Cited
Browning, Robert. Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came.
http://fivers.typepad.com/files/childe-roland-to-the-dark-towercame.pdf