Lord Byron

In 1819 The romantic poet, Lord Byron (1788-1824) published the first part of his epic satire, Don Juan, about the amorous adventurer. Critics felt it was morally deprived though the public are lapped it up. Byron’s scandalous lifestyle was much condemned, he was notorious as an enemy of conventional morality and religion. He had a great contempt for the establishment including the Church of England.

Robbie Burns

Robbie Burns (1759-1796) was renowned for his drinking and womanizing life style and claimed that he was haunted rather than helped by his religion. Despite this, the Scottish Bard was by no means irreligious, retaining a belief in a good and pure God but his preference was for the more liberal Christianity rather than the more traditionally rigid Scottish Calvinism. Indeed he circulated satirical poems on religion amongst friends including his Holy Fair which slammed Calvinist bigotry by contrasting the admonishments of the church leaders preaching hellfire and damnation with the genial sociability of the congregation at the local Calvinist church prayer meeting.

Robert Browning

Robert Browning (1812-1889) was an English poet whose work was characterized by the accomplished use of dramatic monologue and an interest in obscure literary and historical figures. His works included the poems The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1842), and Home Thoughts from Abroad (1845). He was married to Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
When he was a teenager, Browning shocked his evangelical mother when he declared himself like his hero Shelley, an atheist. In later life he looked back on this as a passing phase and he became a knowledgeable Bible reader but always denied any Christian faith.

Elizabeth Browning

The English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning is probably best known for her collection of poetry, Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850), a collection of love lyrics, which was written during her courtship with her husband Robert Browning. Elizabeth was bought up by a family that attended services at the nearest dissenting chapel and her father was active for years in Bible missionary societies. Elizabeth herself went through an evangelical “phase” and it is not clear how much she retained her faith as she developed an interest in spiritualism. However, she wrote a number of pieces about social injustice including the slave trade in America and the labor of children in the mines and mills of England.