"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came" is one of Robert Browning's darkest and most mystical poems. I can think of only one other poem of his where the ultimate meaning is left to the reader's imagination, the more upbeat "How they brought the good news from Ghent to Aix". There is only one reference to God in "Childe Roland" and none to Christianity or its philosophy, unlike Browning's dramatic monologues. With its theme of an unspecified quest which will almost certainly result in the demise of the quester, to me it prefigures Kafka's "The Castle". The poem has generated a remarkable amount of commentary on the Web, which speaks to its power.
It clearly gripped the imagination of Louis MacNeice, the Ulster-born member of the group of socialist-orientated writers which included Spender, Auden and Day-Lewis. His radio play inspired by the poem retains some of the mysticism and, aided by Britten's music, is equally gripping in its conclusion, but takes off into a critique of current social trends and, in the aftermath of the second world war, questions about the nature of aggression. I am not old enough to remember the first transmission but I do recall the impact which the 1950 broadcast had on me.
It will be interesting to hear whether a new production (on Radio 3 tonight at 9:30) with a contemporary cast but retaining Britten's music will have the same effect.
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