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I have to confess that I first encountered it via Purcell's operatic version. Although the poem was first published in 1590 - around the time that Shakespeare was becoming well-known, it doesn't seem to have kept its "awareness" in the public perception in the same well the W.S. has.
Richard - I'd hazzard a guess that it was perhaps popular in Victorian times because of its underlying theme of Christian morality? The Victorians were very "big" on morality.
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