After
Take
the
cloak
from
his
face,
and
at
first
Let
the
corpse
do
its
worst!
How
he
lies
in
his
rights
of
a
man!
Death
has
done
all
death
can.
And,
absorbed
in
the
new
life
he
leads,
He
recks
not,
he
heeds
Nor
his
wrong
nor
my
vengeance;
both
strike
On
his
senses
alike,
And
are
lost
in
the
solemn
and
strange
Surprise
of
the
change.
Ha,
what
avails
death
to
erase
His
offence,
my
disgrace?
I
would
we
were
boys
as
of
old
In
the
field,
by
the
fold:
His
outrage,
God's
patience,
man's
scorn
Were
so
easily
borne!
I
stand
here
now,
he
lies
in
his
place:
Cover
the
face!
Robert Browning
Robert Browning (born May 7, 1812, London—died Dec. 12, 1889, Venice) major English poet of the Victorian age, noted for his mastery of dramatic monologue and psychological portraiture. His most noted work was The Ring and the Book (1868–69), the story of a Roman murder trial in 12 books. Through all the vicissitudes of critical reputation, however, Browning’s major contribution to the canon of children’s literature, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” has retained its popular audience. At the time of his death in 1889, he was one of the most popular poets in England.