Testament to Beauty: A former Poet Laureate demonstrates his poetic talents in this tender and beautiful verse.

Robert Seymour Bridges, OM was born on 23rd October 1844 at Walmer in Kent where he spent his early childhood in a house overlooking the anchoring ground of the British fleet.

His father died aged only 47 in 1853. A year later his mother remarried and the family relocated to Rochdale, where his stepfather was the vicar.

In 1854 Bridges was sent to Eton College and attended until 1863. After Eton he went to Corpus Christi College at Oxford. There he became good friends with Gerard Manley Hop...