It might make you tired looking at the word, "duty," but in "Parting at Morning," there's no denying that our speaker has places to go and things to do in that "world of men." He's got a duty to himself to not just be a lover, like he was in "Meeting at Night," but to also be his own independent man. No matter how you cut it, we understand that love in the poem requires not just the lovey-dovey stuff, but also the independent dutiful stuff that allows a person to stand on his own two feet.
Questions About Duty
- How does the poem's syntax contribute to the dutiful tone of the speaker?
- How does the balance between nature and man reflect a sense of duty for either man or the natural world? Does everyone and everything seem as if they've got things to do?
- Would the poem have sounded any different without all of the personification we see? Would the speaker have sounded any less dutiful?
- What comes to mind when you hear the phrase, "a world of men," in terms of duty?
Chew on This
Try on an opinion or two, start a debate, or play the devil’s advocate.
Duty is everywhere in "Parting at Morning," whether the speaker is referring to himself or the natural world.
Everyone, including nature, seems to have his own path in Browning's poem. And each path symbolizes a person's duty to himself.