Robert Browning (1812–1889) was born in Surrey, England. He was born into a Nonconformist family and was largely home educated. He began writing poetry in childhood and published his first volume in 1833. Many early readers found his poems difficult to understand, but he gradually became one of the most admired and loved authors of his time, and after he died, in Venice, Italy, he was buried in Westminster Abbey. He is particularly admired for his dramatic monologues spoken by fictional or historical characters. His wife was the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861).
