Robert Browning's "The Pied Piper of Hamlin"
The Daily Poem
Goldberry Studios
4.6 ā¢ 729 Ratings
šļø 21 May 2021
ā±ļø 14 minutes
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Summary
Robert BrowningĀ (7 May 1812 ā 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whoseĀ dramatic monologuesĀ put him among the foremostĀ Victorian poets. His poems are noted forĀ irony,Ā characterization, dark humour,Ā social commentary, historical settings and challengingĀ vocabularyĀ andĀ syntax. His career began well, but shrank for a time. The long poemsĀ PaulineĀ (1833) andĀ ParacelsusĀ (1835) were acclaimed, but in 1840Ā Sordellowas seen as wilfully obscure. His renown took over a decade to return, by which time he had moved fromĀ ShelleyanĀ forms to a more personal style. In 1846 Browning married the older poetĀ Elizabeth BarrettĀ and went to live in Italy. By her death in 1861 he had published the collectionĀ Men and WomenĀ (1855). HisĀ Dramatis PersonaeĀ (1864) and book-lengthĀ epic poemĀ The Ring and the BookĀ (1868ā1869) made him a leading British poet. He continued to write prolifically, but his reputation today rests mainly on his middle period. By his death in 1889, he was seen as a sage and philosopher-poet who had fed into Victorian social and political discourse. Societies for studying his work formed in his lifetime and survived in Britain and the United States into the 20th century.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to The Daily Poem. I'm David Kern, and today is Friday, May 21st, 2021. |
| 0:06.5 | I mentioned yesterday when I did a Robert Browning poem that I might do another one today, |
| 0:10.5 | and sure enough, here we are with another Robert Browning poem. |
| 0:13.7 | As I mentioned, he was born on May 7th of 1812, so this is his birthday month, |
| 0:19.2 | and he died in December of 1889 he was one of the most important |
| 0:23.0 | of all the Victorian poets today I'm going to read a poem that is long because Robert |
| 0:27.9 | writing wrote long poems thus I am only going to read it one time it's even longer than the |
| 0:32.3 | one I read yesterday but it's a story poem and it's from a legend you have heard before it's his |
| 0:37.0 | version of the pied pi Piper of Hamlin. |
| 0:39.1 | So the kids might enjoy this one. |
| 0:41.3 | The Pied Piper of Hamlin was a tale from a legend that I believe dates back to the Middle Ages |
| 0:48.1 | and is a German fairy tale of sorts, a German folk tale. |
| 0:58.8 | And it involves rats and music. |
| 1:03.8 | Let me just say that. You've heard it before, I'm sure. But this is Robert Browning's version of it. |
| 1:06.4 | So here it is. The Pied Piper of Hamlin by Robert Browning. |
| 1:12.8 | Hamlin towns in Brunswick by famous Hanover City. |
| 1:19.0 | "'The river Vesser, deep and wide, washes its wall on the southern side. |
| 1:21.8 | "'A pleasanter spot you never spied. |
| 1:26.3 | "'But when begins my ditty almost five hundred years ago "'to see the townsfolk suffer so from vermin was a pity rats |
| 1:32.6 | they fought the dogs and killed the cats and bit the babies in the cradles and eat the cheeses out of the vats and licked the soups |
| 1:40.1 | from the cook's own ladles split open the kegs ofrats, "'made nests inside men's sunday hats, |
| 1:46.8 | "'and even spoiled the women's chats |
... |
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