The Borough

Borough, The,
a poem by Crabbe published 1810 , in twenty-four ‘letters’, describing, with much penetration and accuracy of detail, the life and characters of the church, the school, the professions, the surroundings, the workhouse, the prisons, the sea, and other aspects of the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk. The work, which is uneven in quality, took eight years to complete. Two of the most successful tales, concerning Peter Grimes and Ellen Orford , were combined in Britten 's opera Peter Grimes ( 1945 ).