Now!

Now! Out of your whole life give but a moment! All of your life that has gone before, All to come after it, -- so you ignore, So you make perfect the present, condense, In a rapture of rage, for perfection's endowment, Thought and feeling and soul and sense, Merged in a moment which gives me at last You around me for once, you beneath me, above me -- Me, sure that, despite of time future, time past, This tick of life-time's one moment you love me! How long such suspension may linger? Ah, Sweet, The moment eternal -- just that and no more -- When ecstasy's utmost we clutch at the core, While cheeks burn, arms open, eyes shut, and lips meet! Robert Browning This fifteen verse poem to be fully enjoyed should be read in one breath. The poem builds up from the beginnning and ends with a climactic phrase. Many exclamation marks and commas throughout the poem help reinforce the feeling of quickness and of imemdiacy that it suggests. The title, which is short and fully explains this feeling preludes to the action that is happening now. The poem is explaining about the importance of the moment. The first verse "Out of your whole life give but a moment!" introduces the idea. Then, throughout the poem this idea is expanded and explained in better depth. Phrases such as "Thought and feeling and soul and sense, Merged in a moment which gives me at last (verses six and seven) and "This tick of life-time's one moment you love me!" expresses the poem's message of the importance of this single moment. The last two verses (thirteen and fourteen) "When ecstasy's utmost we clutch at the core, While cheeks burn, arms open. eyes shut, and leeps meet!"conclude the poem by stating what happens in this one single moment: the final ecstatic union of two lovers. I believe Browning here is trying to express how all his love for a woman can be concentrated in just that moment. he is saying that all his soul and love is unleashed the moment when he finally kisses his lover. An artwork which fully expresses the idea of this poem