Romantic literature in English nature, of a rural childhood, and of the alienated and unstable self". George Crabbe (1754–1832) was an English poet who, during the Romantic period, wrote "closely observed, realistic portraits of rural life [...] in the heroic couplets of the Augustan age". Lord Byron who was an admirer of Crabbe's poetry, described him as "nature's sternest painter, yet the best". Modern critic Frank Whitehead has said that "Crabbe, in his verse tales in particular, is an important–indeed, a major–poet whose work has been and still is seriously undervalued." Crabbe's works include "The Village" (1783), "Poems" (1807), "The Borough" (1810), and his
English Romantic sonnets were influenced by all their famous predecessors, when writing sonnets, but the most important single influence was Milton, who had written less than 30 sonnets himself. In the 17th century Milton kept the sonnet form alive while also expanding the subject matter – which hitherto had mainly been love – by writing about ideas, events, history, and contemporary issues. Like Milton, the Romantics wrote relatively few love sonnets and the sonnet of the Romantic era include politics, nature, friendship, art, history, religion, life and death. In fact some of the Romantic poets even wrote sonnets about sonnets. Wordsworth’s "Scorn not