Robert Browning was born on 7 May 1812 at Southampton Cottage, Camberwell, then a semi-rural district south of London, and died on 12 December 1889 in Venice. Few English poets have combined such audacity of intellect, dramatic energy, moral curiosity, and technical resourcefulness. During his lifetime he moved from the position of a puzzling, frequently mocked young writer to that of a revered elder of Victorian let…
“I believe the fault comes from a too-sweet sense of the freedom of being true with you, telling you all, hiding nothing.”
Neighbourhood:
Dramatic Poets, Love Poets, Pre-Raphaelite Poets, Victorian Poets
Emotional landscape: Tenderness, Longing, Wonder
Francesco Petrarca, known in English as Petrarch, was born on 20 July 1304 in Arezzo, Tuscany, and died during the night of 18–19 July 1374 at Arquà, near Padua. He stands among the decisive makers of European literary culture: a poet whose Italian lyrics established an enduring language of desire; a Latin author who sought to restore the prestige and moral seriousness of classical letters; a tireless correspondent a…
“I have always held wealth in extreme contempt, not because riches are undesirable in themselves, but because I hated the toil and anxiety that cling to them inseparably.”
Neighbourhood:
Italian Renaissance Poets, Love Poets, Medieval Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Tenderness, Sensuality
