The Biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Hello and welcome to our video summarizing all you need to know about Elizabeth Barrett Browning. My name is Sarah and in this video we'll dive into the character that was the author along with her works. This video is really useful especially if you are studying Elizabeth as part of your English coursework or exams as I'll get into the details you need to The works of the English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning enjoyed great popularity during her lifetime. Her most enduring poetry has proved to be sonnets from the Portuguese. Elizabeth Barrett was the first of 12 children born to Edward and Mary Moulton on March 6 1806 in Durham. Her father was a possessive and demanding man loved by his children even though he rigidly controlled their lives. Elizabeth's childhood was ideal in that the Barretts lived in a lovely setting, a country house called Hope End. She was an excellent writer and enjoyed growing up with Though she never received any formal education Elizabeth loved to read. By age eight she had learned to read Homer in the original Greek and had begun to write poetry. In 1819 her father had printed 50 copies of her classic The Battle of Marathon. In 1826 she published anonymously an essay on mind with other poems an attempt as she later noted to survey history, science, metaphysics and poetry from classical Greece to the Victorian day in 88 pages. Elizabeth's fascination with metaphysics and religion became somewhat of an obsession that she described as not the deep persuasion of the mild Christian but the wild visions of an enthusiast. Elizabeth's useful happiness was not to last. In 1821 she began to suffer from a nervous disorder that caused headaches, weakness and fainting spells. Some sources trace his life this lifelong illness to an impatient decision to harness her own horse at age 15. Reportedly she fell with the saddle on top of her damaging her spine. An ongoing prescription for opium was probably a life shortening remedy but a common one for the times. Her mother's health was also unstable. When Elizabeth was 20 her mother became fatally ill. Meanwhile her father had lost all of his wealth. Rather than move immediately he refinanced beyond any possibility of repayment so that Mrs Barrett would never have to leave her beautiful home. After her death Elizabeth and her family left hope and forever. Barrett continued her poetic career in 1833 with the anonymous publication of Prometheus Bond translated from the Greek of Aeschylus and Miscellaneous Poems. Two years later the Barretts moved to London, England and in 1838 settled permanently at 15 Wimpole Street. Here Elizabeth started literary friendships that encouraged her writing. During the same year Elizabeth published her first book under her own name the Seraphim and other poems. Though these poems are often filled with heavy-handed sorrow and moral messages the critics hailed her as a new poet of extraordinary ability. In 1838 Barrett's illness worsened and she relocated to a sea resort for her health. Her favorite brother Edward stayed with her. Two years later Edward drowned after disagreements with Elizabeth. This shock worsened her poor health. For the next five years she remained in her room and saw no one except her family and a few close friends. In 1844 however the publication of poems secured her fame. Such poems as The Dead Pan and Lady Geraldine's Courtship seemed trill and sentimental to today's readers but they were very popular with Victorian readers and won high praise from critics both in England and the United States. By far the most significant result of poems was the beginning of Barrett's relationship with the poet Robert Browning. Attracted by her praise of his poetry Browning wrote to her on January 10th 1845 and thus began England's most famous literary love affair. Barrett's illness had led her to feel completely dead to hope of any kind. Six years his senior and an invalid Elizabeth could not believe her good fortune. Elizabeth could not believe her good fortune. Her progress out of despair into hope and finally joy can be traced in her letters to Browning and her sonnets from the Portuguese written during their courtship and expressing her love for him. The world famous romance line how do I love thee let me count the ways comes straight from these sonnets. Because Elizabeth's father had forbidden any of his children to marry the couple was secretly married on September 12th 1846. In anger and frustration Mr Barrett refused ever to see his daughter again. Fortunately Elizabeth had inherited other money. The Brownings journeyed south through France to Italy. Casa Guidi in Florence was their home for the rest of Mrs Browning's life. There her health was so improved that on March 9th 1849 she gave birth to a son Robert Browning. In 1850 Browning issued a revised edition of poems containing the sonnets from the Portuguese which her husband had urged her to publish. Modern readers usually find these sonnets her best work but Victorian readers much preferred a long poem in blank verse published in 1836. The major interest of Browning's later years was the Italian struggle for unity and independence. Her keen commitment to social justice is evident in both Casa Guidi windows and poems before congress. In these she attempted to win sympathy for the Italian cause. This emphasis on social justice led to her poem A Curse for a Nation to be published in a Bostonian journal. Elizabeth's 1857 publication of Aurora Leaf featured an artist heroine committed to social reform but thwarted by the male domination of the age. Some call it autobiographical. Years later Virginia Woolf called this heroine the true daughter of her age. Woolf's praise attracted many modern readers to Elizabeth Browning's work. Elizabeth was a primary inspiration for Emily Dickinson as well. No 19th century female poet was more esteemed than Elizabeth Barrett Browning. On June 29th 1861 she died quietly in her husband's arms with a smile on her face. So that's it for this video If you found it useful give it a thumbs up and do subscribe to our channel where we offer free materials that you can use as part of your studies to really get a better grasp of specific areas you might find challenging. Make sure to visit our website as well where you'll find useful revision guides, model answers and tools to get top marks. Thank you for listening!