Sordello (poem)
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Sordello is a narrative poem by the English poet Robert Browning. Worked on for seven years, and largely written between 1836 and 1840, it was published in March 1840. It consists of a fictionalised version of the life of Sordello da Goito, a 13th-century Lombard troubadour depicted in Canto VI of Dante Alighieri's Purgatorio.
Author | Robert Browning |
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Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Genre | Narrative poetry |
Publisher | Edward Moxon |
Publication date | March 1840 |
Media type |
The poem is convoluted and obscure, its difficulties increased by its unfamiliar setting. It was harshly received at the time of its publication: Alfred, Lord Tennyson's opinion was recorded thus by William Sharp in his biography of Browning:
Lord Tennyson manfully tackled it, but he is reported to have admitted in bitterness of spirit: "There were only two lines in it that I understood, and they were both lies; they were the opening and closing lines, 'Who will may hear Sordello's story told,' and 'Who would has heard Sordello's story told!'".[1]
The poem was, however, championed decades later by Algernon Swinburne and Ezra Pound.