Robert Browning : poems

Robert Browning (1812-89) was largely educated in his father's vast library and spent only one term at university.

In 1846 he married Elizabeth Barrett Browning, eloping to Italy until her death in 1861, when he returned to England to complete his celebrated work "The Ring and The Book" (1868-69).

He died in Venice in 1889. Douglas Dunn was born in 1942 and grew up in Inchinnan in Renfrewshire.

He worked as a librarian in Britain and the US until 1971, when he became a full-timer writer.

He has published 10 collections of poetry and has edited "The Faber Book of Twentieth Century Scottish Poetry".

In the "Poet to Poet" series, a contemporary poet advocates a poet of the past or present whom they have particularly admired.

By their selection of verses and their critical reactions, the selectors offer intriguing insights into their own work.

Here, Douglas Dunn surveys Robert Browning.