Man's Reach

DURING A DISCUSSION OF THE EGO IDEAL OF the psychoanalyst, at the 1977 International Psychoanalytical Congress in Jerusalem, a speaker quoted Robert Browning's lines, "A man's reach should exceed his grasp or what's a Heaven for." I thought he had misquoted, for I remembered the lines as a statement—a man's reach exceeds his grasp—not as an injunction—a man's reach should exceed his grasp. When I suggested to the speaker that I thought he had erred, he quickly agreed with me. I was uneasy about my memory, and when I returned home I reread the poem. I was wrong. Browning had written: "A man's reach should exceed…" I pondered my error and my friend's quick concurrence. It occurred to me that our experience as analysts accounted for our changing the text. As analysts we daily hear accounts of the unhappy consequences of excessive ambition. We know that man's reach does indeed exceed his grasp. The pursuit of Heaven—however it may be defined—is ubiquitous. While aspiration can foster gratifying accomplishment, it can also engender disappointment, bitterness, and psychological disability.

Browning's (1855) poem, "Andrea del Sarto," from which the quotation is taken, poignantly illustrates a man's struggle to reconcile his ambitions and ideals and his attempt to assuage the narcissistic wound that results from failure to achieve his goals. The poem is a monologue by Andrea del Sarto, known as the Faultless Painter. He pleads with his wife to spend more