De Gustibus by Robert Browning
The speaker imagines a tree-loving companion's ghost walking an English lane near young lovers, while naming an Apennine castle or a southern Italian seaside house as his own preferred haunts. In the seaside scene, a girl reports that the king has been wounded and hopes his attackers remain uncaught; the speaker declares his enduring love for Italy.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Descriptive Poetry · 498 words
First lines
Your ghost will walk, you lover of trees, / (If our loves remain) / In an English lane, / By a cornfield-side a-flutter with poppies. / Hark, those two in the hazel coppice -- / A boy and a girl, if the good fates please, / Making love, say, -- / The happier they! / Draw yourself up from the light of the moon, / And let them pass, as they will too soon, / With the beanflowers' boon, / And the blackbird's tune, / And May, and June!
What this Textopian page supports
De Gustibus is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Browning, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Browning
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Descriptive Poetry
- Length: 498 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for De Gustibus by Robert Browning
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The speaker addresses a companion in rhyming verse, contrasts their preferred landscapes, and declares his lasting attachment to Italy.
- Descriptive Poetry — Poppies, beanflowers, and blackbird song distinguish the English lane from Italy's precipices, cypress, blue sea, and crumbling frescoes.
Tags
Italy · English countryside · landscape · imagined afterlife · attachment to place · political violence