This poem was written and printed as the Prologue to _Pacchiarotto and
How he Worked in Distemper_, published in 1876. It was, however, given
the title "A Wall" when published in 1880 in _Selections from Robert
Browning's Poems, Second Series_. The last two stanzas express one of
the fundamental ideas of Browning's poetry. Under the figure of the wall
with its pulsating robe of vines and the eagerness of the lover to
penetrate to the life within the house, he sets forth his thought of the
barrier between himself and a longed-for future life in heaven. The
"forth to thee" is to be interpreted as referring to his wife.