Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “A Musical Instrument”

Comments Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) was a leading Victorian poet and also the wife of Robert Browning, another famous poet of the era. “A Musical Instrument” is her last work and was published after her death from a lung ailment that she had suffered from …

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Robert Burn’s “A Bard’s Epitaph,” with commentary

A Bard’s Epitaph (1786) Is there a whim-inspired fool, Owre* fast for thought, owre hot for rule,                                      Over/too Owre blate* to seek, owre proud to snool*,                                  Bashful; to submit tamely Let him draw near; And owre this grassy heap sing dool*,                                           Dole/sorrow And drap* a …

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Lightly translated: an anonymous lyric from the 1400s, “Timor mortis conturbat me”

This is only lightly translated because most of the vocabulary matches modern usage. Timor mortis conturbat me is Latin for “the fear of death disturbs me” and comes from the medieval Catholic Office of the Dead. It was often included in poems of the time. Also, …

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