Lyric Poem · Love

Summum Bonum

by Robert Browning

Reading room

1All the breath and the bloom of the year in the bag of one bee:

2All the wonder and wealth of the mine in the heart of one gem:

3In the core of one pearl all the shade and the shine of the sea:

4Breath and bloom, shade and shine, — wonder, wealth, and — how far above them —

5 Truth, that's brighter than gem,

6 Trust, that's purer than pearl, —

7Brightest truth, purest trust in the universe, — all were for me

8 In the kiss of one girl.

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“Summum Bonum” by Robert Browning — quilloak.com/poems/summum-bonum

Quick facts

Poem: Summum Bonum
Poet: Robert Browning
Length: 8 lines
Form: Lyric Poem, Short Poems
Themes: Love, Nature, Short

Craft notes

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Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape: 8 lines · one 8-line stanza
End rhyme: ABABBCAC.
Line length: Mostly 15-syllable lines.

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Author record: Robert Browning1812–1889
Source record: PoetryDBSummum Bonum 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 bf752a3023cf9df7…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Short Poems Love Nature Short

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