English Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6, 1806, in Coxhoe Hall, Durham, England. She was the eldest of eleven children born of Edward and Mary Moulton-Barrett (DISCovering Authors). Her father was a “possessive and autocratic man loved by his children even though he rigidly controlled their lives” (Encyclopedia of World Biography). Although he forbid his daughters to marry, he always managed to encourage their scholarly pursuits (DISCovering Authors). Her mother, Mary Graham-Clarke, was a prosperous woman who earned their wealth from a sugar plantation in Jamaica (EXPLORING Poetry). When Elizabeth was “three years old, the family moved to Hope End in Herefordshire,, and she spent the next twenty-three years of her life in this

Elizabeth’s strength, independence, and her intense willpower to assure that her marriage is coordinated only by love demonstrate the feminist portrayal of Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s desire for

     Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a plain woman of the Victorian Era that was most remarkably gifted. She “was destined to become known to the world”(Preston xi). Elizabeth Barrett Browning became known for her poetry, because she showed marriages were her women character were often left emotionally unstable.

Elton Pope states, “When you’re a kid, they tell you it’s all… Grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid, and that’s it. But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that. It’s so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better”. Throughout one’s personal timeline, events in which occur in what seems like random happenstance are actually what help to shape one into the person they are destined to be. Times like these are often known as “stepping stones”, and take place in each individual’s lives. The cycle of life withholds three major events in which are touched upon in European literature. Appreciation of life, overcoming milestones, and facing death, are all well experienced events spread across

“No man can be called friendless who has God and the companionship of good books.”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet of the Victorian Era. She was born on March 6, 1806 at Coxhoe Hall, Durham, England. Barrett had a big family, she was the oldest out of 12 children. Her parents, Mary Graham Clarke and Edward Barrett, educated their children at home. The family made their money off of Jamaican sugar plantations and depended on slave labor. Barrett began her love for reading and writing poetry at a very young age. She began reading the classic poetry written by William Shakespeare and John Milton. At the age of 12, she wrote her first book of poetry. When Barrett was 14 years old, she suffered a spinal injury while riding her pony. The doctors diagnosed her with a skeletal

The upper classes refused to help the poor, they did not believe it was their duty. Simply, they thought that the poor were meant to be poor and the rich, rich. It was God's decision. As a famous Victorian poet, Cecil Frances Alexander wrote, "The rich man in his castle, The poor man at his gate, God made them, high and lowly, And order’d their estate" Because of this overall attitude to the poor, there really was no way out for the less fortunate. Mrs. Warren and her sister, Liz, were victims of social injustice and poverty during this time period. Mrs. Warren was forced to work in horrible conditions as a waitress, servant, etc. She mentions that her half-sister worked in a whitelead factory for twelve hours a day, and was only paid twelve shillings a week, which converts to about 88 American Dollars. Her half-sister then died from lead poisoning. Stories like that were so incredibly

Robert Frost is an iconic poet in American literature today, and is seen as one of the most well known, popular, or respected twentieth century American poets. In his lifetime, Frost received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry, and the Congressional Gold Medal. However, Robert Frost’s life was not always full of fame and wealth; he had a very difficult life from the very beginning. At age 11, his father died of tuberculosis; fifteen years later, his mother died of cancer. Frost committed his younger sister to a mental hospital, and many years later, committed his own daughter to a mental hospital as well. Both Robert and his wife Elinor suffered from depression throughout their lives, but considering the premature deaths of three of their children and the suicide of another, both maintained sanity very well. (1)

In the words of Anne Bradstreet, “If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.” As writers of the modern era expressed their hardships through poetry, one can only hope that they kept such advice in mind. Through captivating works, poets such as Langston Hughes, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Robert Frost, and E.E. Cummings expressed the struggles of life during the modern era. By examining what these poets have to say about dissatisfaction with life, feelings of inadequacy, and loneliness, it becomes clear that life during the modern era was full of hardships.

It is not a coincidence that the very first sentence in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice forecasts one of the most predominant themes in the novel and in Elizabethan literature. Only a male can inherit his family’s property and fortune, and so it behooves a woman, especially one used to a high standard of living, to pursue marriage with a wealthy man. “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife” (Austen 1). The sentence provides an overview for the book as well, which concerns itself with the pursuit of “single men in possession of a good fortune”. This motif of Elizabethan marriages continues through the rest of the first passage when Mrs. Bennet announces the arrival of Mr. Bingly at Netherfield. She enlightens her daughters about Mr. Bingly saying, “He is a single man of large fortunes four or five thousand a year” (Austen 2). Austen skillfully

Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett was born March 6, 1806 in Durham, England to Edward Barrett Moulton-Barrett and Mary Graham Clarke. She was the eldest of twelve. Her father made the family fortune from a sugar plantation. In 1809, the Barretts moved to an estate called Hope End in England. Elizabeth Barrett’s childhood was spent happily at the family’s home in England. She had no formal education, learning solely from her brother’s tutor and from her continuous reading. She managed over the years to learn Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French, Italian, German, and Spanish. She learned rapidly and began writing at an early age.

With only a pen, Elizabeth Barrett Browning to promoted the liberation of forgotten people. As a result of a life filled with oppression by a misogynistic society surrounding her, Browning became a strong advocate for the emancipation of all people. Throughout her poems, Elizabeth Barrett Browning embodies the iconic 19th century emancipated female. Today, Browning continues to be one of the most beloved British poets of the Romantic Movement.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry has been the subject of much criticism. Her elusive style prompted many critics to question Barrett's method of writing. In fact, some critics, like Alethea Hayter, go so far as to propose that an "honest critique of her work must admit that she often wrote very bad poetry indeed" (15). Accusations against Barrett's work were often targeted at her tendency for anonymity, her excessive development of thoughts, unsuccessful forced rhymes, and more often than any other of her familiarities, her tendency to create her own words. Despite being relatively shunned by the world of poetry, Barrett persisted in writing poetry, even though the majority of her writing

Light Tomorrow with Today, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning- Moulton. Believe that which you make in this life will always effect you in the end. Have you ever thought that, “I can do all things but fail”, always put that living light first, once you have applied that light, there is nothing you could possibly want. Elizabeth Browning – Moulton, imagined that one day one would put that beautiful light first in life, added things will keep coming in one’s favor. Elizabeth Barrett Moulton is known as one of the most famous British poets of all time during The Victorian Era. As a person of distinction Browning-Moulton made it through a struggle to be sick and to go through great pains to get where she was proclaimed as one of the most wonderful

Shakespeare, who wrote the sonnets in 1609, expresses his own feelings through his greatest work of literature. The theme of love in the poems reflect thoughts from the Renaissance period. Love is one of many components of Shakespeare’s life shown in the sonnets. Love can be defined in many ways other than a strong affection for a lover. In Shakespeare’s sonnets, the concept of love can be seen through many uncommon means such as the love of life before death in “Sonnet 73,” love in marriage in “Sonnet 116,” love through sexual desire in “Sonnet 129,” and love through nature in “Sonnet 130,” proving that love can be expressed through many different feelings and emotions.