Paul Revere’s Ride and The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882) was the most popular and admired American poet of the nineteenth century. Known for his narrative historical and mythic poems, his most famous works include Evangeline, The Song of Hiawatha, The Courtship of Miles Standish, and Tales of Wayside Inn. Versatile as well as prolific, Longfellow also won fame as a writer of short ballads and lyrics, and experimented in the essay, the short story, the novel, and the verse drama.

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.

David Thorn spent his childhood in the Channel Islands off the coast of France, was schooled in England, and then immigrated to the United States at the age of twenty-three. He is retired from international commerce and currently resides in California.