As this phrase had been going through my head I decided to do some research into it. It is a phrase from Robert Browning’s poem which commences with the words ‘The years at the spring and day’s at the morn.’ It seems it was inspired by seeing a young silk-winding girl on her one day off a year. The various people she met were influenced by her attitude to life and often turned away from their evil designs.
I know poetry has to be very succinct but the last two lines have always made me wonder. ‘God’s in His heaven, all’s right with the world.’ Yes, God is in His heaven, but He doesn’t stay there. Plus I don’t think it’s accurate to say ‘all’s right with the world,’ even in 1841, I now think of these words as, God is on earth as well as in heaven, but because of His presence here, He is making a difference to the evils of this world.