<P> Browning wrote it while at sea, sailing from London to Trieste . The sequence of towns between Ghent and Aix - la - Chapelle is a rational one . The work itself describes an imaginary historical incident before the age of telegraph, metaled turnpike, and railway . </P> <P> The towns through which the riders pass are characterized only by the associated time of night, dawn, and day, also a feature of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's later poem of urgent nightlong news - bearing, "Paul Revere's Ride". </P> <P> The poem was parodied by W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman in their book Horse Nonsense as "How I Brought the Good News from Aix to Ghent (or Vice Versa)". </P> <P> In 1889, Browning attempted to recite the poem into a phonograph at a public gathering, but forgot the words; this is the only record of Browning's voice . </P>

How i brought the good news from ghent to aix