Robert Browning 3-2-1

For my 3-2-1 response I chose to review a poem by Robert Browning called "Confessions". Robert Browning, in general, uses his poetry to reveal deeper meanings through simple context, and in this poem especially, he plays with the reader's perception of reality and fantasy through his references to drug use in a near death experience, which makes it difficult for the reader to determine whether or not the main character is under the influence of drugs or is just experiencing effects of being so close to death. The poem's title lets the reader understand the context of the poem. A man on his death bed is talking to a priest to confess his sins. He is confessing to the priest a love story of his, all the while daydreaming outside the window and referencing the window sill full of prescription drug bottles as he is telling the story. Not only does he offer altered realities for the reader, but the poem offers more than one possible confession that the main character could be knowingly confessing to. One last important point to this poem is the presence of a religious figure with no other references to religion. The narrator does not ask for forgiveness for whichever sin he confesses to, making the reader wonder why the narrator is confessing at all. The last line of the poem, the narrator proclaims how 'sweet' his encounters with the female were; this leads the reader on to think that the confession may not be his relationship with the girl, but something completely different.

In poetry, I prefer having a poet clarify their meaning outside of their poetry, or if included in their poems, have it be subtle. I like to have to re-read a poem at least a couple of times to truly understand it. In whichever case it may be, I'd like to know 1) if Browning's idea of confession in this poem was the narrator's relationship with the girl or drug abuse, and 2) if the narrator's encounter with the girl actually occurred or if the narrator was tripping out because of all of the medications he was on.

One question I have regarding this poem is what seemed to be more obvious? The confession about the 'inappropriate' relationship or the drug abuse? What do people think was the underlying confession in the poem, and if it was in fact a confession at all because Browning did not include the narrator's remorse for either of the possibilities.