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Robert Browning

The most sensational episode in Robert Browning's life was his elopement with Elizabeth Barrett, a piece of history made perhaps all too familiar in the popular play called The Barretts of Wimpole

May and Death

by Robert Browning (1812–89)

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16

I wish that when you died last May,

Charles, there had died along with you

Three parts of spring's delightful things;

Ay, and, for me, the fourth part too.

A foolish thought, and worse, perhaps!

There must be many a pair of friends

Who, arm in arm, deserve the warm

Moon-births and the long evening-ends.

So, for their sake, be May still May!

Click here for complete poem

Poets Book of Days

May 17

Robert Tannahill died, 1810

View Calendar of Days

Poetry Trivia

Question:

According to the twelfth century French poet Jean Brodel, what were the three subjects appropriate for epic poetry?

Answer

The Matter of Britain (Arthurian Legend, such as Gawain and the Green Knight , or "the Romance of the Rose "); the Matter of France (Carolingian 'history' such as the Song of Roland , Orlando Furioso and to a certain extent El Cid ); and the Matter of Rome (any stories from the classical period, such as John Lydgate's Troy Book ).

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