Caliban in his bog

by chuckofish

Today we remember the Victorian poet Robert Browning (1812-1889) who was born on this day 212 years ago. He wrote many long, wonderful poems including “My Last Duchess”, “The Pied Piper of Hamlin”, “Fra Lippo Lippi”, “The Ring and the Book” and many more.

I actually had a couple of lines from “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” on my senior page. (Yikes.) Over the years he has had many detractors but also many fans, including Jorge Luis Borges, who wrote “Browning Decides to Become a Poet”:

Today he is probably as well known for his romance with poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning as for his poetry, but c’est la vie. His poems are pretty great. You can read some here.

And if you have a mind to, you could watch one or both of the two filmed versions of The Barretts of Wimpole Street.

So dust off an old college book and read an old poem by Robert Browning (or Borges).

The lark’s on the wing; 
The snail’s on the thorn; 
God’s in His heaven,
All’s right with the world!