Elizabeth Barrett Browning

At 55 years old, Elizabeth Barrett Browning has this physical status:

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett, 1806-1860), an English poet of the Victorian period, famous in Britain and the United States during her lifetime. Elizabeth Barrett, the eldest of 12 children of County Durham, wrote poetry from the age of 11.

Her mother's collection of her poems constitutes one of the largest extant collections of juvenilia ever assembled by any English writer.

She became sick at 15 and suffered with chronic head and spinal pain for the remainder of her life.

Later in life, she developed lung disease, perhaps tuberculosis.

She lauded her youth for the pain that comes from an early age, which is likely to have contributed to her frailty.

Elizabeth Kenyon, a nineteenth-century British writer, was introduced to literary life by her cousin, John Kenyon.

Her first adult collection of poems was published in 1838 and she wrote prolifically between 1841 and 1844, producing poetry, translation, and prose.

She fought for the removal of slavery, and her activism helped in the reform of child labor laws.

Until recently, her ferocious output made her a contender for poet Laureate on the death of Wordsworth. Elizabeth's volume Poems (1844) was a huge success, winning Robert Browning's admiration.

For fear of her father's disapproval, their correspondence, courtship, and marriage were carried out in secrecy.

She was indeed disinherited by her father following the wedding.

In 1846, the couple moved to Italy, where she would live for the remainder of her life.

They had one son, Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning, whom they referred to as Pen.

In 1861, she died in Florence, Italy.

Soon after her husband's death, she released a collection of her last poems. Elizabeth's work had a major influence on influential writers of the day, including Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson.

"How Do I Love Thee" is one of her poems. Aurora Leigh (1856), 43, 1845) and Seonnet 43, 1845).

Source

Life and career

Elizabeth Barrett's relatives had been living in Jamaica since 1655. Their prosperity came largely from slave labour in the Caribbean. Edward Barrett (1734-1738-1888), the owner of 10,000 acres (40 km2) in northern Jamaica's estates of Cinnamon Hill, Cornwall, Cambridge, Cambridge, and Oxford. Both Elizabeth's maternal grandfather and slaves were slaves sold from Africa, mills, glassworks, and ships that traded between Jamaica and Newcastle in the United Kingdom.

Barrett's family wanted to give their name down, but the family agreed that he should not be kept as a surname. In some cases, inheritance was granted on the understanding that the name was used by the beneficiary; the English gentry and "squirearchy" had long promoted this sort of change. Elizabeth used "Elizabeth Barrett Moulton Barrett" on legal records, and before she was married, she sometimes signed herself "Elizabeth Barrett Barrett" or "EBB" (initials that she was able to keep after her wedding). Elizabeth's father decided to raise his family in England, but his company operations remained in Jamaica. Mary Graham Clarke, Elizabeth's mother, owned several plantations in the British West Indies that were also farmed by slaves. The families made their fortune by enslaving African slaves and freeing their slave labor to build their massive empires.

Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett was born in Coxhoe Hall, England, on March 6, 1896, in Coxhoe, between the villages of Coxhoe and Kelloe. Edward Barrett Moulton-Barrett and Mary Graham Clarke, both of whom had been born in the United States; Elizabeth was the eldest of 12 children (eight boys and four girls). Eleven lived to adulthood; one daughter died at the age of three when Elizabeth was eight years old.

The children all had nicknames: Elizabeth was "Ba" in the case. She rode her pony, went for family walks and picnics, socialized with other county families, and appeared in home theatrical productions. Unlike her siblings, however, she engaged herself in books as often as she could escape from her family's social rituals.

She was baptized at Kelloe parish church in 1809, but a family friend had already been baptized in her first week of life.

The family lived in Hope End, a 500-acre (200 ha) farm near Ledbury, Herefordshire, in 1809. Her father converted the Georgian house into stables and constructed a new mansion of opulent Turkish architecture, which his wife characterized as something from Arabian Nights Entertainments.

The interior's brass balustrades, mahogany doors inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and delicately carved fireplaces were eventually enhanced by lavish landscaping: ponds, grottos, kiosks, an ice house, a hothouse, and a subterranean passage from house to gardens. Her time at Hope End would inspire her in later life to write Aurora Leigh (1856), the first book to be published between 1905 and 1978.

She was educated at home and tutored by Daniel McSwiney with her oldest brother. At the age of four, she began writing verses. She was a ferocious, studious child during the Hope End period. She said she was reading novels at six years old, eight years old, learning Greek at ten, and at eleven, writing her own Homeric epic, The Battle of Marathon: A Poem.

Mr Barrett privately published The Battle of Marathon, an epic-style poem, in 1820, but all copies of the poem remained within the family. The child's poetry was included in Elizabeth B. Barrett's book "Poems." She was dubbed the "Poet Laureate of Hope End" by her father, who encouraged her to do her homework. The result is one of the largest collections of juvenilia of any English writer. At this moment, Mary Russell Mitford described the young Elizabeth as "a small, delicate figure, with a shower of dark curls falling on either side of a most expressive face; broad, vivid eyes, richly fringed by dark eyelashes, and a smile like a sunbeam."

Elizabeth began to fight with illness at a time when medical science at the time was unable to recognize. Both three sisters were diagnosed with the disease, but it was only with Elizabeth. With a lack of mobility, she had severe head and spinal pains. Several biographies point to a riding crash at the time (she fell while trying to dismount a horse), but there is no evidence to back up this claim. Sent to recover at the Gloucester spa, she was treated for a spinal disorder in the absence of symptoms pointing to another diagnosis. Although this disease lasted for the remainder of her life, it is thought to be unrelated to the lung disease that she suffered in 1837.

She began taking opiates for the pain, laudanum (an opium concoction) followed by morphine, which was then commonly used. She will be heavily dependent on them for a large portion of her adulthood, and her early use may have contributed to her frailty. Alethea Hayter, a poet, has written that this may have contributed to her imagination's wildness and the poetry that it produced.

She had read Mary Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and became a committed promoter of Wollstonecraft's theories by 1821. The child's intellectual fascination with the classics and metaphysics was reflected in a spiritual passion that she later described as "not the deep persuasion of the mild Christian, but the wild visions of an enthusiast." Edward was active in Bible and missionary societies, and the Barretts attended services at the nearest Dissenting chapel.

Elizabeth's mother died in 1828 and is buried at St Michael's Church, Ledbury, right next to her daughter Mary. Elizabeth Graham-Clarke, Elizabeth's aunt, was assisting with the children's care, but she and Elizabeth's strong will clashed. Elizabeth Moulton, Elizabeth Moulton, Elizabeth Moulton's grandmother, died in 1831. Mr Barrett suffered significant financial and investment losses that led to his departure from Hope End following lawsuits and the abolishment of slavery. Although the family was never poor, the house was confiscated and put up for auction to please creditors. He would not discuss his financial situation; the family was haunted by the fear that they might have to move to Jamaica.

She was living at Belle Vue, Sidmouth, between 1833 and 1835. The site has been renamed and redeveloped, and it has been renamed Cedar Shade. A blue plaque at the entrance to the museum attests to this. The family lived at 50 Wimpole Street in 1838, some years after the sale of Hope End.

The poet was again struck by illness in 1837-38, with symptoms today suggesting tuberculous ulceration of the lungs. She moved from London to Torquay on the Devonshire coast in the same year as her physician's insistence. The Regina Hotel now belongs to her former home. Two tragedies have erupted since. Samuel's brother Samuel died of a fever in Jamaica in February 1840. Edward ("Bro"), the girl's favorite brother, was drowned in a sailing crash in Torquay in July. It had a major effect on her already fragile health. She felt guilty because Edward's trip to Torquay had been disapproved of by her father. "It was a good distance from madness, complete hopelessness madness," she wrote to Mitford. In 1841, the family returned to Wimpole Street.

Elizabeth spent the majority of her time in Wimpole Street. Her health began to improve, but she met few people other than her immediate family. One of them, John Kenyon, a wealthy friend of the family and patron of the arts, was one of those people. She was given a spaniel named Flush, a Mary Mitford gift. (Virginia Woolf later portrayed the dog's life, making him the protagonist of her 1933 novel Flush: A Biography).

Elizabeth was prolific in poetry, translation, and prose from 1841 to 1844. The poem "The Cry of the Children," published in 1842 in Blackwood's, denounced child labour and aided in the introduction of child-labour legislation by increasing support for Lord Shaftesbury's Ten Hours Bill (1844). She contributed to Richard Henry Horne's A New Spirit of the Age, including a laudatory essay on Thomas Carlyle.

"A Drama of Exile," "A Vision of Poets," and "Lady Geraldine's Courtship," were among her two-volume Poems' 1844 research papers on The Athenaeum's 1842 issues. "A self-proclaimed "adorer of Carlyle" sent a copy to him as "a token of admiration and admiration," which started a correspondence between the two people. Barrett Browning could now shift her entire focus on the mind rather than being burdened with any domestic duties deemedered of her sisters," she said. On the death of Wordsworth in 1850, she made her a contender for poet Laureate.

Elizabeth is now commemorated by a Royal Society of Arts blue plaque on 50 Wimpole Street.

Poems' 1844 book made her one of the country's most popular writers, as well as causing Robert Browning to write to her. "I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett," he wrote praising their "new strange music, the affluent words, the exquisite pathos, and a true new brave thought."

In her rooms, Kenyon arranged for Browning to meet Elizabeth on May 20th, 1845, establishing what was to be one of literature's most popular courtships. Elizabeth had already published a substantial amount of work, but Browning had a major influence on her post-writership, as did she on her: two of Barrett's most popular pieces were written after she encountered Browning, Sonnets from Portugal and Aurora Leigh. Robert's Men and Women is also a product of the time.

Barrett's ability to participate in public debate on social issues and aesthetic questions of poetry, which had been so prevalent in her youth, gradually slowed, as did her physical appearance. She was beginning to appear as both an intellectual presence and a physical presence.

Robert Browning and Elizabeth's marriage was secretly carried out because she knew her father would disapprove. They honeymooned in Paris after a private wedding at St Marylebone Parish Church before moving to Italy in September 1846, which became their home almost continuously until her death. Elizabeth Wilson, Elizabeth Wilson, Elizabeth Wilson, Elizabeth Wilson, Elizabeth Wilson, was at the wedding and took the couple to Italy.

Mr Barrett inherited Elizabeth as he did not have any of his children who married. Elizabeth had anticipated her father's rage, but had no idea of her brothers' defiance. The couple were quite wealthy in Italy when Elizabeth had some money to spare. The Brownings were well-known and even famous. Elizabeth grew stronger, and Penge, Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning, was born in 1849, after four miscarriages. Their son married later, but there were no legitimate children at the time.

Elizabeth's second edition of Poems featured her love sonnets; as a result, her fame increased (as did critical consideration), and her artistic position was confirmed.

The couple met a diverse group of writers and writers, including William Makepeace Thackeray, sculptor Harriet Hosmer (who, she wrote, appeared to be the "perfectly emancipated female") and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Margaret Fuller, Carlyle, 1851, was born in 1849; in 1852, French novelist George Sand, whom she had long admired, was introduced to France. Isa Blagden, a writer who encouraged to write novels, was one of her closest friends in Florence. They met Alfred Tennyson in Paris, and John Forster, Samuel Rogers, and the Carlyles in London, who later befriended Charles Kingsley and John Ruskin.

G. B., an old friend, died after the death of an old friend. Barrett Browning's health began to decline, first for Hunter and then for her father. The Brownings migrated from Florence to Siena, residing at the Villa Alberti. "She published a small number of political poems titled Poems before Congress (1860), "the bulk of which were written to express her sympathy for the Italian cause after the 1859 outbreak of war." They sparked a backlash in England, and Blackwood and the Saturday Review, both conservative publications, dubbed her a fanatic. She dedicated this book to her husband. A Musical Instrument was her last work, which was released posthumously.

Henrietta Browning's sister died in November 1860. Barrett Browning's health declined even more in Rome over the winter, which led to his return to Florence in early June 1861. She became gradually weaker and began using morphine to ease her pain. In her husband's arms, she died on June 29th, 1861. Browning said she died "smilingly, thankfully, with a face like a teenager's." "Beautiful" was her last word. She was buried in Florence's Protestant English Cemetery. "The shops in Casa Guidi's area were closed on Monday, July 1, while Elizabeth was mourned with unusual protests." Her illness is also unknown. Some modern scientists suspect her illness may have been hypokalemic periodic paralysis, a genetic disorder that causes dependence, and several of the other signs listed.

"On the Cruelty of Man," Barrett Browning's first published poem was published at the age of six or eight. The manuscript, which protests impressment, is on display in the New York Public Library's Berg Collection; the exact date is uncertain because the "2" in the year 1812 is crossed out in lieu of something else that is scratched out.

In May 1821, her first independent publication was "Stanzas Excited by Reflections on the Present State of Greece," the New Monthly Magazine; "Thoughts Awakened by Contemplating a Piece of the Palm that Grows on the summit of Athens"; "Thoughts Awakened by Reflections on the Present State of Greece"; two months later, "Thoughts Awakened by Contemplating a Piece of the Palm."

An Essay on Mind, Her first collection of poems, was published in 1826 and represented her obsession with Byron and Greek politics. Hugh Stuart Boyd, a blind Greek scholar, and Uvedale Price, another Greek scholar with whom she maintained correspondence, were among those interested in the book's publication. Mrs James Martin of Colwall, with whom she also corresponded during her lifetime, was one of her many neighbors. She translated Aeschylus' Proeschylus Bound, published in 1833; retranslated in 1850). During their friendship, Barrett explored Greek literature, including Homer, Pindar, and Aristophanes.

Elizabeth wrote two poems highlighting the barbarity of the organisation and her support for the abolitionist movement: "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point" and "A Curse for a Nation" is Elizabeth's words. The first depicts an enslaved woman whipped, assaulted, and made pregnant, yelling her enslavers. Although her father's belief that abolishing slavery would destroy his industry, Elizabeth declared herself happy that the slaves were "virtually free" when the Slavery Abolition Bill passed in the British Parliament.

The date of publication of these poems is uncertain, but her position on slavery in the poems is clear, and it may have caused a rift between Elizabeth and her father. In 1855, she wrote to John Ruskin, "I belong to a family of West Indian slaveholders, and I should be concerned if I believed in curses." The Baptist War (1831-1842), which left her father and uncle homeless, and slaves remained slave slaves until the Slavery Abolition Act was passed.

John Kenyon introduced Elizabeth to literary figures, including William Wordsworth, Mary Russell Mitford, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Alfred Tennyson, and Thomas Carlyle. Elizabeth continued to write, contributing "The Romaunt of Margaret," "The Romaunt of the Page," "The Poet's Vow," and other related journals. Elizabeth corresponded with other writers, including Mary Russell Mitford, who would be a good friend and who would encourage Elizabeth's literary aspirations.

The Seraphim and Other Poems appeared in 1838, Elizabeth's first volume of Elizabeth's mature poetry was published under her own name.

In 1850, Sonnets from the Portuguese were published. The source of the term is uncertain. Some believe it refers to Lu's de Cames, a Portuguese poet who lived in the 16th century. However, "my little Portuguese" was Browning's pet name for Elizabeth, and it may have some connection.

Aurora Leigh's verse-novel Aurora Leigh's most popular of her longer poems appeared in 1856. It's the story of a female writer living her life, balancing work and love, and it's based on Elizabeth's own experiences. Aurora Leigh's thoughts about the traditional roles of women, as well as independence versus self-determination, were a significant influence on Susan B. Anthony's discussion of marriage versus individuality. "Mrs. Browning's poems are, in all respects, the utterance of a woman, of deep learning, rich experience, and a natural genius, bringing together her woman's femininity the ability that is often thought peculiar to a man."

Source