Parting at Morning

Pied Piper Guy

We have to be honest about Robert Browning's career, without stepping on his toes of course. Our man is best known, by non-academic folks, for one thing: "The Pied Piper of Hamelin." That's not to say he didn't do anything else. Nowadays academics recognize Browning as being a Big Man in Victorian poetry, but the fact of the matter is, you probably won't hear those poems all that often anymore. But you most certainly will hear about "The Pied Piper" and Browning's famous use of single and simple rhymes.

Modern poets, like T.S. Eliot, weren't too fond of Browning's singsong rhymes, so that's a large reason as to why much of his poetry fell out of the spotlight (source). But when you do come across poems that have those perfect rhymes and deal with some heavy Victorian philosophical thought, chances are you might be staring at a Browning poem.

Check out these two Browning gems for a better idea:

• "My Last Duchess"
• "Porphyria's Lover"