Abstract
For the emerging generation of poets and novelists in Britain, the 1840s were a time for new heroes and role models. In the context of his disenchantment with the aged Wordsworth (‘The Lost Leader’), Browning may have found in Emir Abd-el-Kader of Algeria, a fitting, principled, surrogate hero, the very personification of ‘action in character.’ His fascination with the Algerian is expressed in his 1842 poem Through the Metidja to Abd-el Kadr. Browning may have end-stopped parataxis in Through the Metidja to emulate the classical Arabic qaṣīda or ode. This dramatic monologue is a consummate treasure for its vividness and subtle condensation of vast and wide-ranging materials into a distillation of just a few cryptic lines, images, and meanings.
If I were you I would go to Pau as usual and take poor Abdel Kader ’s place (my husband is furious about the treatment of Abdel Kader, so I hear a good deal about him). 1
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Julia Martin, Florence : December 3, 1848 2
The foot of our horse is lighter, and more certain than the foot of yours.
—Emir Abd-el-Kader 3
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Jaouad, H.A. (2018). Abd-El-Kadr, or ‘The Found Leader’. In: Browning Upon Arabia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92648-3_3
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