Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Best-Loved Poems

Robert Browning (1812–1889), born in London, was a major English poet of the Victorian age. He is noted for his psychological insight into character and motivations, his colloquial English, and his perfection of the dramatic monologue form. He influenced many modern poets, partly through his development of the dramatic monologue and his use of stream of consciousness. He was married to poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) is generally considered the greatest of English poetesses. She was well educated for a woman of her time at home, being confined to bed by a lung complaint, possibly tuberculosis. The appearance of her Poems in 1844 attracted the attention of Robert Browning, who courted her in secret before eloping with her to Italy. There Elizabeth’s health improved and she threw herself into politics, becoming a pioneer of early liberal movements.

Steven Pacey is an English actor, with a performance career spanning over 40 years, encompassing film, television, theatre, musical theatre, radio and audiobooks. Steven is much loved for his characterful renditions in over three hundred radio plays and over two hundred audio-books, and has made guest appearances on many of Britian's leading television series. However he is perhaps best remembered for his role as Tarrant in the cult science-fiction series Blake's 7.

Joanna David is a highly acclaimed actress whose theater credits include The Importance of Being Earnest, The Ghost Train Tattoo, and The Deep Blue Sea. On television, she was the second Mrs. de Winter in the BBC’s Rebecca, while among her other credits are Foyle’s War, The Forsyte Saga, The Glass, Dalziel and Pascoe, Midsomer Murders, and A Dance to the Music of Time.