The+Brownings,+A+Literary+Biography

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6, 1806 and was the eldest of 12 children. She lived with her father, mother, and 11 siblings until the death of her mother when Elizabeth was only 21 years of age (Markus, 17). Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett, Elizabeth’s father, was a very peculiar man who did not want any of his children to marry (one of many strange traits about him). The daughters of Mr. Barrett who did marry were disinherited (21, 35, 36, 37). Elizabeth was a very sickly girl and therefore spent the majority of her life in her father’s house, living in a sick room (14). Doctors were unable to determine what ailment had crippled her (16). She was unable to stand, walk, and essentially move herself from her sickbed. It was gathered that Barrett did not have tuberculosis, for that would have diagnosable (17). She had weak lungs and was prone to hemorrhaging; and although the doctors were very clear that Elizabeth did not have a spinal condition, that is what she was to be treated for nonetheless (16, 17). Barrett was a well-known poet who was admired by other poets and fans alike. Her works focused around history, politics, and culture. She also wrote works on love and death, along with a huge volume letters that are in the process of being published in their entirety (Stone 310).

The first time Robert Browning called upon Elizabeth, a woman six years his elder, he wrote to her as a fellow literary figure who appreciated her works (Markus 1). Elizabeth Barrett felt a mutual admiration towards the works of Robert Browning, often referring to him as the “pomegranate poet” (1). In Robert’s letter, he expressed how he loved her verses, and he also loved her (Kenyon 280). On January 10, 1845, Barrett wrote back to Browning, and thus began their courtship (Markus 1). The majority of the courtship was carried out through letters. They wrote each other 574 letters over a period of one year and eight months, the last of which was written by Barrett on September 18, 1846 – the night they eloped in Italy (1, 2).

Elizabeth Barrett did not allow many people, if any, to visit her in the sick room in her father’s house (Markus, 14). Robert Browning was admitted in for the first time in 1845 (14). What he found when he entered was an ill looking woman, crippled by sickness. Robert assumed that she suffered from and incurable spinal disease, but loved her in spite of this (14, 16). Upon finding out that Barrett’s ailment was not a spinal disease, but rather an addiction to morphine which had crippled her, he began to work with her on standing and walking, in the hopes that they would one day be able to marry (16, 21). It was at this point in the relationship that Elizabeth Barrett chose actively to live over the option of death, as her semi-autobiographical sonnet sequence //Sonnets from the Portuguese// charts (38).

It was at the age of 39 that Elizabeth Barrett married Robert Browning (Markus, 37). Robert had wanted to meet her father face-to-face and let him know about their courtship and proposed marriage; however, Elizabeth and her siblings persuaded him against that for fear of what Mr. Barrett might do to keep the two from seeing each other again (37). Elizabeth married Robert Browning in secret on September 12, 1846. They could not tell their friends or family, for fear of the news getting back to Elizabeth’s father; therefore, on the eve of September 18, 1846, the two lovers eloped to Italy (4, 38). They moved to Pisa, and planned a short stop in Florence on their way to Rome (121). In Pisa, the Brownings stayed in the Casa Guidi during the beginning of the revolutions throughout Europe (122, 127). This inspired Elizabeth to write //Casa Guidi Windows//, a book-length poem focusing of the struggle for liberation in Italy, published in 1847 (127). After undergoing two miscarriages, Elizabeth Barrett Browning gave birth to a son on March 9, 1849, at the age of 43 (130). It was regarded as a miracle that a healthy, fair skinned baby boy came from a small, dark, sickly woman such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning (14, 130). Throughout their courtship and marriage, Elizabeth Barrett Browning continued to write poetry on her political and aesthetic interests, and often her feminist poetry has attracted much scrutiny (specifically her 1856 novel poem //Aurora Leigh// [131]). For Robert Browning, writing did not come as easily, despite the encouragement he received from his wife (142). When Browning’s mother died, before ever meeting Robert’s wife and son, Elizabeth Barrett Browning gave him //Sonnets from the Portuguese// to aid in his grief (140, 164). His mother’s death, and his battle with influenza, is thought to be the restlessness that prevented him from writing in the first few years of his marriage (141, 142). This was the first time in his relationship with Elizabeth that he needed her to be strong for him as opposed to the other way around (160, 161). Later in their marriage, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote //Casa Guidi Windows// (part two), and Robert Browning wrote //Christmas-Eve and Easter Day// (1850), as well as a collection of dramatic lyrics which appeared in his 1855 volume //Men and Women// (166, 169).

Elizabeth Barrett Browning grew quite sick at the age of 55 (320). Robert made note of her gradual decline, and on June 29, 1861, Elizabeth Barrett Browning died (323, 331). Browning spent his last 28 years a widower (335). He never remarried, nor did he allow a biography of his wife published during his lifetime – by him or anyone else (335). Browning’s fame grew through his poetry, although he never reached the fame of his late wife. Browning’s only “expressly autobiographical” work is arguably //La Saisiaz// (1877); he burned everything else that he thought was not meant to be seen by the public eye when he neared the end of his life (25). Robert Browning died on December 12, 1889.

AdN/Engl386/Fall2012/UVic


 * Works Cited **

Kenyon, Frederic G, ed. //Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning//. New York: The MacMillan Company, 1910. Print.

Markus, Julia. //Dared and Done//. New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc, 1995. Print.

Stone, Marjorie. “Elizabeth Barrett Browning: History, Politics, and Culture”, //Victorian Poetry// 46.3 (2008): 310-327. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.