Swaying, in others, frames itself exceeds,
Assigning them the simpler tasks it used
To patiently perform till Song produced
Acts, by thoughts only, for the mind: divest
Mind of e'en Thought, and, lo, God's unexpressed
Will dawns above us!" (`Sordello'.)

A dangerous tendency of civilization is that towards crystallization --
towards hardened, inflexible conventionalisms which "refuse the soul
its way".

Such crystallization, such conventionalisms, yield only to
the dissolving power of the spiritual warmth of life-full personalities.

The quickening, regenerating power of personality is everywhere
exhibited in Browning's poetry. It is emphasized in `Luria',
and in the Monologues of the Canon Caponsacchi and Pompilia,
in the `Ring and the Book'; it shines out, or glints forth,
in `Colombe's Birthday', in `Saul', in `Sordello', and in all
the Love poems. I would say, en passant, that Love
is always treated by Browning as a SPIRITUAL claim;
while DUTY may be only a worldly one. SEE especially the poem
entitled `Bifurcation'. In `Balaustion's Adventure:
including a transcipt from Euripides', the regenerating power
of personality may be said to be the leavening idea, which the poet
has introduced into the Greek play. It is entirely absent
in the original. It baptizes, so to speak, the Greek play,
and converts it into a Christian poem. It is the "new truth"
of the poet's `Christmas Eve'.