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Bridges was born in Walmer, Kent, and educated at Eton College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford. His first collection of poems was published in 1873 but he went in for medicine and practised as a doctor in London hospitals until 1882 when he was able to devote his full time to poetry. He married in 1884 and spent the rest of his life in rural seclusion, first at Yattendon, Berkshire, then at Boar's Hill, Oxford, where he died.

Bridges was noted for his technical mastery of prosody. In the collection New Verse (1925) he experimented with a meterIn literature, meter or metre (sometimes known as prosody) is a term used in the scansion of poetry, usually indicated by the kind of feet and the number of them. For instance, " iambic pentameter", "dactylic tetrameter", etc. Technical terms in poetic me based on syllables rather than accents, which he also used in the long philosophical poem The Testament of Beauty (1929). His best-known poems, however, are to be found in the two earlier volumes of Shorter Poems (1890, 1894). He also wrote verse plays, with limited success, and literary criticism, including studies of prosody in the works of John MiltonJohn Milton ( December 9, 1608— November 8, 1674) was an English poet, most famous for his blank verse epic Paradise Lost''. His father, John Milton Sr. was a well-off scrivener, and his grandfather a wealthy landowner in Oxfordshire who, hewing to the ol and John KeatsJohn Keats ( October 31, 1795 February 23, 1821) was one of the principal poets in the English Romantic movement. During his short life, his work was the subject of constant politically motivated critical attack, and it was not until much later that the s.

Despite being made poet laureate, Bridges was never a very well-known poet and only achieved great popularity shortly before his death with The Testament of Beauty. However, his verse evoked response in many great English composers of the time. Among those to set his poems to music were Hubert ParrySir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry ( February 27, 1848 October 7, 1918) was an English composer, probably best known for his setting of William Blake's poem, Jerusalem''. Born in Bournemouth, Hampshire, and brought up at Highnam Court, Gloucestershire, he, Gustav HolstGustavus Theodore von Holst ( September 21, 1874 May 25, 1934) was an English composer with Latvian (and some Spanish) roots. Born in Cheltenham, he went on to study at the Royal College of Music in London. His best-known work is probably his orchestral s, and later Gerald FinziGerald Raphael Finzi ( July 14, 1901 September 27, 1956) was a British composer, whose popularity has increased considerably in the years since his death. Life Born in London, son of an Italian Jewish father and a German Jewish mother, Finzi was to belie.

At Corpus Christi College, Bridges became friends with Gerard Manley HopkinsGerard Manley Hopkins ( July 28, 1844 June 8, 1889) was an British Victorian poet and Jesuit priest, whose verse has been widely admired for the vividness of its expression. Biographical information Hopkins was born in London of Welsh ancestry. He was the who is now considered a superior poet but owes his present fame to Bridges' efforts in arranging the posthumous publication (1916) of his verse.

The poet Elizabeth DaryushElizabeth Daryush ( 1887- 1977) was an English poet. She was the daughter of Robert Bridges. She married Ali Akbar Daryush, and spent some time in Persia; most of her life was spent in Oxford. Some of her early work was published as Elizabeth Bridges. was his daughter.