John Forster, Lives of Eminent British Statesmen, volume 2, undetermined contribution to biography of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, by Browning (London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1836). Complete Poetic and Dramatic Works of Robert Browning, Cambridge Edition, edited by G. W. Cooke and H. E. Scudder (Boston & New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1895). The occasion now why this matter came unto my remembrance in speaking of Translvania, was, for that some do report that there are divers found among the Saxons in Translvania that have like surnames unto divers of the Burgers of Hamel, and will therby seeme to inferre, that this Jugler or pide Piper, might by negromancy have transported them thither, but this carrieth litle appearence of truth; because it would have beene almost as great a wonder unto the Saxon of Transilvania to have had so many strange children brought among them, they knew not how, as it was to those of Hamel to lose them: and they could not but have kept memorie of so strange a thing, if indeed any such thing had there hapned. And, in fact, one 13th Century outbreak – a literal form of dance fever – occurred south of Hamelin, in the town of Erfurt, where a group of youths were documented as wildly gyrating as they travelled out of town, ending up 20km away in a neighbouring town. Some of the children, one chronicle suggests, expired shortly thereafter, having flat-out danced themselves to death, and those who survived were left with chronic tremors. Perhaps, some theorise, Hamelin witnessed a similar plague, dancing to the figurative tune of the Piper.

A wondrous portal opened wide’. The Pied Piper up into the mountainside which can be seen as heaven from a magical perspective. This makes us realise that the Piper is doing this to save the children from the selfish villagers. He said, "I will take away this plague immediately, but in return each village must pay me one thousand guilders. If you won't give your money for the love of God, then at least do so for your own benefit. With this money I shall build for you a dike from the mountain road of Hendesheim (Handschuhsheim near Heidelberg) to Ramstadt so that the mountain floods will no longer damage your fields." Fra Lippo Lippi ’– a dramatic monologue written in blank verse that tells the scandalous story of a painter’s life. Equally fast the yellow dwarf raised his fife, and mice by the millions followed its sound. They all advanced to Tannenberg Mountain, which opened up, and when it closed again, there was no trace of either the dwarf or the mice.Caesura: occurs when the poet inserts a pause into the middle of a line. This might occur due to their use of punctuation or meter. For example, “Come in!”–the Mayor cried, looking bigger” and “A thousand guilders! The Mayor looked blue.” Source (Internet Archive): Johann Nepomuk Ritter von Alpenburg, "Mäuse in Glurns," Deutsche Alpensagen (Vienna: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1861), no. 246, p. 239. Glurns is a village in South Tyrol, Italy, a region with historic and linguistic connections to Austria. The Italian name is Glorenza. Asolando: Fancies and Facts(London: Smith, Elder, 1889; Boston & New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1890).

Metaphor: It is a comparison between two, unlike things without using “like” or “as.” An example of a metaphor can be found in line 61: “It’s as my great-grandsire, Starting up at the Trump of Doom’s tone, Had walked this way from his painted tombstone!” The speaker compares the pied piper’s appearance to that of a ghost. In the next section, which is the longest so far, the Piper explains to the council what he can do for them. He can use a secret charm to bring creatures to his side. It doesn’t matter what they are. He can control them. He brings out his pipe in the next lines, explaining that he has freed other towns from animals in the past. For example, he says, he “eased in Asia the Nizam / Of a monstrous brood of vampyre-bats.” The town agrees to pay him as much and more than he wants if he’ll help them. When he once again played on his fife all the children followed him; even infants pulled themselves from their mothers' breasts and toddled along after him. When the procession reached Tannenberg Mountain a great opening appeared. The dwarf and the children went inside, and the cliff closed up again, leaving no trace of the children. Confirming the truthfulness of this story is the fact still today the marketplace in that town is called Mice-Market. What the rats did such as, ‘nests inside men’s Sunday’s hats’, would humour children strengthen the point that its a children’s story.

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Andrea del Sarto’- is told from the perceptive of Andre del Sarto, an artist who wants to talk about his art and life with his wife. Simile: It is a comparison between two unlike things using “like” or “as.” The poem shows the use of a simile in lines 98-99, where it compares twinkling eyes to candle-flames with salt sprinkled on it. Grave old plodders, gay young friskers, Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins…’ Browning is anthropomorphising the rats making the Pied Piper even more influential and powerful that this colony of rats are following him. Consonance: It is the repetition of consonant sounds in words that are close to each other in a sentence or line of poetry. An example of consonance is in line 23: “‘Tis clear, cried they, our Mayor’s a noddy” where the repeated “d” sound creates a consonant effect.

In these lines, the “strangest figure” appears. Browning outlines the Piper’s appearance, which is completely unusual in that town. No one could tell who his “kith and kin” were. He’s out of place in this town, and Browning makes a concerted effort to ensure the reader understands that.

Books.google.com: Otto Henne-Am Rhyn, Die deutsche Volkssage: Beitrag zur vergleichenden Mythologie (Leipzig: Verlag von Joh. Wilh. Krüger, 1874), p. 91.. William S. Peterson, Robert and Elizabeth Browning: An Annotated Bibliography, 1951-1970(New York: Browning Institute, 1974). Hamelin, having suffered a great tragedy in losing all its children, tried to send word to the Piper that they would pay his fee, but to no avail. They made laws to commemorate the memories of the children and have rebuilt since then. The speaker adds a note that there is a "tribe of alien people" in Transylvania whose legends tell how their forbearers once rose "out of some subterranean prison," though nobody in the tribe understands the meaning of the legend.

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem. Mrs. Sutherland Orr, Life and Letters of Robert Browning, revised by F. G. Kenyon (London: Smith, Elder, 1908). In the year 1237, on the fifteenth of July, more than a thousand children assembled in Erfurt. They then crossed over the Waget and, dancing and playing, made their way to Arnstadt, miraculously meeting no one the entire day. There they remained overnight.

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Source (books.google.com): J. von Hefner and J. W. Wolf, "Die Zauberpfeife," Die Burg Tannenberg und ihre Ausgrabungen (Frankfurt am Main: Verlag der S. Schmerber'schen Buchhandlung, 1850), pp. 33-34. lips he wrinkled…sharp eyes twinkled…a candle-flame where salt is sprinkled’. Pretty language is used making the story even more child-friendly.