Oh, you know, Robert Browning? Married to Elizabeth Barret Browning (evil father-in-law played by Charles Laughton, I think). He was one of the first Victorian poets I found I actually liked - a lot of his things are these sort of first-person monologues in verse, but subtly done so you hardly notice the rhymes. "My Last Duchess" is a Renaissance nobleman showing off a portrait of his late wife, while hinting that he killed her; a rather unwise conversational direction, given that he seems to be speaking to a representative of his future wife's family (there's a line toward the end "nay, nay, we'll go down together, sir," which makes me suspect the diplomat is trying to edge away slowly to the door...)
Re: Feathertop and other vegetable friends/fiends