Robert Browning was born on May 7, 1812 in Camberwell, which is south of London. His birthday falls within a couple of months of the births of Dickens and Thackeray. He was the eldest of 2 children, born to Robert and Sarah Anna Browning. His father was a bank clerk.
He attended London University for a short while in 1828, but received most of his education by readinghis from his father\'s library.
His first poem, Pauline, was published when he was 21. It was soon followed by Paracelsus (1835) and Sordello (1840). A year later, Pippa Passes, the first in a series entitled Bells and Pomegranates was published; the remaining seven parts appeared between 1841-46.
In 1846, Browning eloped with Elizabeth Barrett and lived with her in Italy until his death in 1861. Various difficulties made the poet\'s requested burial in Florence impossible, and his body was returned to England to be interred in Westminster Abbey.
The they left you for their pleasure: till in due time, one by one,
Some with lives that came to nothing, some with deed as well undone,
Death stepped tacitly and took them where they never see the sun.
(from A Toccata of Galuppi\'s)
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