Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett at Coxhoe Hall, Durham County on March 6, 1806. She was one of twelve children. Her parents, Edward Moulton-Barrett and Mary Graham Clarke Moulton-Barrett had eight sons and four daughters. Between 1809 and 1814 Elizabeth began writing poetry. In 1818 she wrote “The Battle of Marathon” and in 1820 her father had it published. When Elizabeth was fifteen years of age, she developed an illness and was prescribed Opium, which began her lifelong Opium habit. Elizabeth’s first published work was “The Rose and Zephyr” in 1825 at the age of twenty-one. A year later, she published An Essay on Mind. Both publications were anonymous and were financially supported by her family. Her father assisted in getting them both published. Elizabeth had commented later in her career that these works were “Pope’s Homer done over again, or rather redone”. She obviously thought very little of the early part of her career. Her Mother passed away in 1828 and Elizabeth began studying classical literature under H.S. Boyd. Her next publication was Prometheus Bound, published in 1833 and once again, anonymously. This translation was from the Greek playwright, Aeschylus. Boyd re-ignited an interest of Elizabeth’s since childhood, in Greek literature and studies. During her youth, Elizabeth was self- taught in the area of literature. She read Paradise Lost, Dante’s Inferno and the Old Testament, in Hebrew, which was obviously the backdrop for Prometheus Bound. In 1837 Elizabeth’s health deteriorated when she burst a blood vessel affecting her lungs; Elizabeth became an invalid. One year later, Elizabeth published her first volume of poetry under her own name, The Seraphim and Other Poems. This work received favorable reviews, which in turn, brought about a correspondence with Wordsworth, Carlyle, and Poe. Poe even wrote an introduction in Elizabeth’s two-volume edition of poetry Poems in 1844. She truly began her literary career in 1838. Elizabeth moved to Torquay for her health and was often accompanied by different family members but her favorite was her brother, Edward. Elizabeth’s uncle passed away that same year leaving her financially secure. In 1840, Edward drowned in Babbacombe Bay off Torquay. She then wrote “De Profundis” expressing her grief. In 1840, Elizabeth wrote “The Cry of the Children”. In 1841 she returned to London, still an invalid, and began working on reviews, articles, and translations.
French writer Victor Hugo, was banished by Napoleon III, emperor of France, for writings that were critical to the government. In April of 1857, English Poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote a letter to Napoleon, which she never mailed. Imploring Napoleon to excuse Hugo for writing a furious letter to the government.
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. “Aurora Leigh”. 1856. Correspondence Course Notes: ENGL 205*S Selected Women Writers I, Spring-Summer 2003, pp. 26, 27.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning follows ideal love by breaking the social conventions of the Victorian age, which is when she wrote the “Sonnets from the Portuguese”. The Victorian age produced a conservative society, where marriage was based on class, age and wealth and women were seen as objects of desire governed by social etiquette. These social conventions are shown to be holding her back, this is conveyed through the quote “Drew me back by the hair”. Social conventions symbolically are portrayed as preventing her from expressing her love emphasising the negative effect that society has on an individual. The result of her not being able to express her love is demonstrated in the allusion “I thought one of how Theocritus had sung of the sweet
Virginia Woolf, in her novels, set out to portray the self and the limits associated with it. She wanted the reader to understand time and how the characters could be caught within it. She felt that time could be transcended, even if it was momentarily, by one becoming involved with their work, art, a place, or someone else. She felt that her works provided a change from the typical egotistical work of males during her time, she makes it clear that women do not posses this trait. Woolf did not believe that women could influence as men through ego, yet she did feel [and portray] that certain men do hold the characteristics of women, such as respect for others and the ability to understand many experiences. Virginia Woolf made many of her time realize that traditional literature was no longer good enough and valid. She caused many women to become interested in writing, and can be seen as greatly influential in literary history
Christopher Browning is a well- known historian and also a writer. His best known books are books regarding the Holocaust during World War II. During the Holocaust the men in charge of the killings were by the Nazi regime, whose leader was Adolf Hitler. Studies show roughly about six million Jews were murdered around this time. These murders were painful and unmoral. In the beginning of the book Browning starts by quoting facts about the holocaust. He quotes, “In mid- March 1942 some 75 to 80 percent of all victims of the Holocaust were still alive, while 20 to 25 percent had perished. The following year the numbers were completely reversed. The majority of the murders of Jews were taken place in Poland. Christopher Browning questions how had the Germans organized and carried out the mass murder of Jews. He also questions how Germany found the resources allowing the Nazi regime to mobilize, considering that Germany in the Treaty of Versailles had to decrease their military. For him to answer this question it led him to investigate, and while investigating he came across a group of m...
Elizabeth Browning starts out her letter by setting up her ethos. She explains to the Emperor about herself and her life. She states, “having grown used to great men (among the Dead at least) I cannot feel entirely at loss in speaking to the emperor Napoleon.” By revealing this, Browning is attempting to build her virtue in the eyes of Napoleon, making her seem more than just a common person. She follows the first paragraph, where she crafted
Emma Lazarus was born in New York City on July 22, 1849, and is the fourth child of Moses Lazarus, and Esther Lazarus. Moses Lazarus was a wealthy sugar merchant and his wife, Esther Lazarus was well known for her side of the family, which was a family whose members were very influential in New York legal circles. Emma and her siblings were raised in New York and were spoiled by their parents. Emma was very weak as a child and could not leave the house often so all of the Lazarus children were educated at home by private tutors. Lazarus’ first literary achievement happened because of her un-paralleled knack for languages. (7)
In essence, Elizabeth Barrett Browning dramatic monologue proved a powerful medium for Barrett Browning. Taking her need to produce a public poem about slavery to her own developing poetics, Barrett Browning include rape and infanticide into the slave’s denunciation of patriarchy. She felt bound by women’s silence concerning their bodies and the belief that “ a man’s private life was beyond the pale of political scrutiny” (Cooper, 46).
as far as to declare her love as the sole reason for her existence in
Emily Dickinson lived in an era of Naturalism and Realism (1855-1910). She lived in a period of The Civil War and the Frontier. She was affected by her life and the era she lived in. She also had many deaths in her family and that’s part of the reason that she was very morbid and wrote about death.
Breaking news revealing the truth about Emily Dickinson’s life has recently been uncovered. For the past hundred-plus years literary historians believed Dickinson to be a plain and quiet type of person who did not communicate with the public for most of her life. Her romanticism poetry drew attention from fellow literary legends. After corresponding with the well-known Thomas Wentworth Higginson, who showed interest in her work but advised her not to publish it, she became defiant to publish any of her work.
Through her endeavors, this seems to be a new way of thoroughly expressing her admiration and vast affection for her husband. Emily Barrett Browning has proved herself a master poet. Not only does she use almost every literary device in the book, but she also delves deep into her feelings. These explanations of her feelings that she adds into the sonnets are rich in metaphors, alliteration, personification, and many more.
Virginia Woolf was born Adeline Virginia Stephen, in 1882. She suffered immensely as a child from a series of emotional shocks (these are included in the biography of Virginia Woolf). However, she overcame these incredible personal damages and became a major British novelist, essayist and critic. Woolf also belonged to an elite group that included Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and T.S. Eliot. Woolf pioneered in incorporating feminism in her writings. “Virginia Woolf’s journalistic and polemical writings show that she made a significant contribution to the development of feminist thought” (Dalsimer). Despite her tumultuous childhood, she was an original thinker and a revolutionary writer, specifically the way she described depth of characters in her novels. Her novels are distinctively modern and express characters in a way no other writer had done before. One reason it is easy to acknowledge the importance of Virginia Woolf is because she wrote prolifically. Along with many novels, she wrote essays, critiques and many volumes of her personal journals have been published. She is one of the most extraordinary and influential female writers throughout history. Virginia Woolf is an influential author because of her unique style, incorporations of symbolism and use of similes and metaphors in her literature, specifically in Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, and The Waves.
She says “writing can be an expression of one 's innermost feelings. It can allow the reader to tap into the deepest recesses of one 's heart and soul. It is indeed the gifted author that can cause the reader to cry at her words and feel hope within the same poem. Many authors as well, as ordinary people use writing as a way to release emotions.” She makes plenty points in her review that I completely agree with. After reading the poem I think that Elizabeth Barret Browning is not only the author of her famous poem, but also the speaker as well. She is a woman simply expressing her love for her husband in a passionate way through poetry. In the 1st Line it reads “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” A woman drunk in love she is, and next she begins to count the numerous ways she can love her significant
The Victorian time period started in 1837 when Queen Victoria took the throne. The people living in England that were ruled by Queen Victoria at the time, were called “Victorians”, this congregation of people were also said to be very “stuffy, prudish, hypocritical and narrow minded” (Everett). During this time period, if you were at the nobles rank you were the very best you could be and everyone wanted to be at that rank.