Tray by Robert Browning
After rejecting two bards’ heroes, a speaker hears a third bard tell of Tray, a dog who saves a drowning child and retrieves her doll while bystanders hesitate and then laugh. The account ends with a man ordering the dog caught or bought for vivisection to explain his behavior.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Satirical Poetry, Animal Poetry · 515 words
First lines
Sing me a hero! Quench my thirst / Of soul, ye bards!
Quoth Bard the first: / "Sir Olaf, the good knight, did don / His helm and eke his habergeon"... / Sir Olaf and his bard -- -- !
What this Textopian page supports
Tray 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: Narrative Poetry, Satirical Poetry, Animal Poetry
- Length: 515 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Tray 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
- Narrative Poetry — Rhymed stanzas frame three bards’ accounts and follow Tray’s rescue of a child, retrieval of her doll, and departure.
- Satirical Poetry — Bystanders claim reason distinguishes humans while dismissing the dog’s rescues as instinct; a man then proposes vivisection to investigate his actions.
- Animal Poetry — Tray’s two dives and the human responses to them make a dog’s actions the central subject.
Tags
dogs · rescue · drowning · vivisection · animal cruelty · heroism · satire