Robert Browning (1812-1889)

A classic English poet, Browning was born on Camberwell, England in 1812. He fell in love, and eloped to Florence with, Elizabeth Barrett where they lived until her death in 1861.

Elizabeth was already an established poet before they met and,indeed, it was his love of her poetry which led to a long correspondence between the two, culminating in their eventual elopement.

The following poem was written by Browning whilst he lived in Florence and was reminiscing on his homeland.

Oh to be in England

Oh to be in England

Now that April’s there

And whoever wakes in England

Sees some morning, unaware,

That the lowest boughs and the brushwood sheaf

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,

While the chaffinch sings in the orchard bough

In England – now!

And after April, when May follows,

And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows

Hark! where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge

Leans to the field and scatters on the clover

Blossoms and dewdrops- at the bent spray’s edge.

That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over

Lest you should think he could never recapture

The first fine careless rapture!

And though the fields look rough with hoary dew

All will be gay when noon-tide wakes anew

The buttercup, the little children’s dower-

Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower.

Read more about Browning

Take a look at a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning