Face, my hands fashioned, see it in myself.
Thou hast no power nor may'st conceive of mine,
But love I gave thee, with myself to love,
And thou must love me who have died for thee!'
The madman saith He said so: it is strange."

See before, p. 41 {about one-fifth into Part II of the Introduction},
some remarks on the psychological phase of the monologue.


"The monologue is a signal example of `emotional ratiocination'.
There is a flash of ecstasy through the strangely cautious description
of Karshish; every syllable is weighed and thoughtful,
everywhere the lines swell into perfect feeling." -- Robert Buchanan.

"As an example of our poet's dramatic power in getting right at
the heart of a man, reading what is there written, and then looking
through his eyes and revealing it all in the man's own speech,
nothing can be more complete in its inner soundings and outer-keeping,
than the epistle containing the `Strange Medical Experience
of Karshish, the Arab Physician', who has been picking up
the crumbs of learning on his travels in the Holy Land,
and writes to Abib, the all-sagacious, at home. It is so solemnly real
and so sagely fine." -- N. Brit. Rev., May, 1861.




A Martyr's Epitaph.