Lyric Poem · Life

Memorabilia

by Robert Browning

Reading room

1Ah, did you once see Shelley plain,

2 And did he stop and speak to you,

3And did you speak to him again?

4 How strange it seems and new!

5But you were living before that,

6 And also you are living after;

7And the memory I started at —

8 My starting moves your laughter!

9I crossed a moor with a name of its own

10 And a certain use in the world, no doubt,

11Yet a hand's-breadth of it shines alone

12 'Mid the blank miles round about.

13For there I picked upon the heather

14 And there I put inside my breast

15A moulted feather, an eagle-feather!

16 Well, I forget the rest.

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“Memorabilia” by Robert Browning — quilloak.com/poems/memorabilia

Quick facts

Poem: Memorabilia
Poet: Robert Browning
Length: 16 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Life

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Shape: 16 lines · 4 quatrains

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Author record: Robert Browning1812–1889
Source record: PoetryDBMemorabilia by robert-browning, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 c796692cfc0dbfae…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Life

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