Robert Browning

Everybody knows the story of The Pied Piper of Hamelin.  Browning's poem runs to 303 lines but I'll confine my sample to a just a couple of sections.

HAMELIN TOWN ’s in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover City;
  The river Weser, deep and wide,
  Washes its wall on the southern side;
A pleasanter spot you never spied;        5
But when begins my ditty,
  Almost five hundred years ago,
  To see the townsfolk suffer so
From vermin was a pity.
 
        Rats!        10
They fought the dogs, and killed the cats,
  And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats,
  And licked the soup from the cook’s own ladles,
Split open the kegs of salted sprats,        15
Made nests inside men’s Sunday hats,
And even spoiled the women’s chats,
  By drowning their speaking
  With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.

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