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What is Elizabeth Barrett Browning compared to
Effect of literature on society
Effect of literature on society
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Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry was one of the most influential writings of the Victorian age. She was an avid writer and wrote poems from when she was 6 to up to her death. But what influenced her poems and made her into the famous writer as we know her today?
Her religious and political beliefs influenced her writing. She believed that poetry could change social and political thinking so she often wrote about important topics like child labor and slavery. Being an avid Christian, she often made metaphors about God’s power in her poem like when she wrote, “Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death,” In her famous sonnet 43, saying that her love for Robert Browning, her soon to be husband,
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. “Aurora Leigh”. 1856. Correspondence Course Notes: ENGL 205*S Selected Women Writers I, Spring-Summer 2003, pp. 26, 27.
Her style of writing is common for this time period however it was uncommon for a woman to be doing the writing. In one of her poems, "In Reference to Her Children, 23 June, 1659" she portrays her children as birds relating it back to nature. The nature aspect adds a tranquil feeling to her poems. She describes her children's lives as if they were birds and goes on to close the poem by saying "farewell my birds, farewell adieu"(Bradstreet 92). She uses nature in this poem to make her children seem simple and calm. She writes about religion is in almost every one of her works, but it is most clear in "A Dialogue Between Old England and New" where she lists out the difference between the two lands. She writes "Before I tell the effect I'll show my cause, which are my sins-- the breach of sacred laws"(Bradstreet 90). In this line she is referring to the old England and their secular ways, she feels that by taking place in the ways of the old England that she has committed many sins. She came to America to correct her ways and to spread her religion. This poem tells the good and the bad of both lands. She pays homage to the problems with England and tells of her hopes for the future of America. She was also a realist, she told life to way it was. In "Upon a Fit of Sickness , Anno 1632 Aetatis Suae" she is very placid about the fact that she
In “The Author to her Book,” the book was about an unpleasing child whom she had worked so hard to improve. She tells her child not to fall into the wrong hands but to explain that her mother has had to turn her out of poverty; “rambling brat.” This metaphor is used in explaining the mockery tone that she uses when referring to her work. She reminds her fellow readers that only few women or parents would care to be held responsible for their offspring. Her children are mostly her true subjects in all of her writings. Her family poems avoid sentiments though but she loves her husband and children more than any other thing in the world. She addresses death in “Before the Birth of One of her Children” which was directed to her husband and shows the fear of being a housewife where every pregnancy was like a preamble to death. Her other poems are in memory of her grandchildren who died while they were still very young. Her feelings in these poems is repressed and her attitude is like surrendering to God’s will but she was always pained at every death situation which is not surprising as she has to mourn her lost loved ones. She designated two poems to her husband when he was away for business. She argues that her love is above a female deer whose mate is absent. In the first letter to her husband, she uses the sun to express her true feelings for him; “I wish my sun may never set, but burn.”
Robert Frost amazingly demonstrates the woman's complex thoughts through the use of character portrayal, metaphor, symbolism, and diction. He illustrates his clear idea about how she lives her life, having struggles in her mind. Reflecting her life in the story that she tells, the poem presents a journey to find out how and why she lives the way she lives between her wishes and beliefs. Using those devices effectively, Frost presents his ideas clearly and makes a strong impression on the reader. Through his demonstration of her journey of life, he shows the significance of life and its complexity.
...own life and the research of others’ are two of her prime techniques in writing her world-famous poetry.
The self- examination part of her religion part comes into play because this poem was very long and confusing; much like how I believed her life was. She had rheumatic fever and through out her life she suffered from periods of fatigue and faced death eight times by giving birth to eight children. I think that she wrote the poem to represent her life she felt that her life was very long and drawn out. She also saw that there were a l...
Love is the ubiquitous force that drives all people in life. If people did not want, give, or receive love, they would never experience life because it is the force that completes a person. Although it often seems absent, people constantly strive for this ever-present force as a means of acceptance. Elizabeth Barrett Browning is an influential poet who describes the necessity of love in her book of poems Sonnets from the Portuguese. In her poems, she writes about love based on her relationship with her husband – a relationship shared by a pure, passionate love. Browning centers her life and happiness around her husband and her love for him. This life and pure happiness is dependent on their love, and she expresses this outpouring and reliance of her love through her poetry. She uses imaginative literary devices to strengthen her argument for the necessity of love in one’s life. The necessity of love is a major theme in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 43” and “Sonnet 29.”
During the Puritan era, women’s role in life was extremely simple. Marriage served as a huge role in women’s lives. The women thought that marriage was a gift from God, and consequently, followed their husband’s wishes. Due to this, women were expected to be docile housewives. They were to clean house, wash laundry, watch children, and please their husband when the man arrived home after work. The women were also expected to have many children, because it was believed that children were gifts from God. While this was the normality of the time period, Anne was different. She was interested in rebelling against society’s way of thinking. She wrote poetry, not only to rebel, but to express the love for all the gifts that she believed God gave
death as the subject of several of her poems. In her poem "Because I Could Not
Emily Dickinson was one of the most influential writers in American History. Emily was a renowned 19th century poet, who voiced her feelings and shed light on various aspects of her life. Although her poetry was mostly private, her works are very public today. The themes of Emily Dickinson’s poetry was influenced greatly by what she experienced throughout her life, beginning at an early age.
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 time just might have been spent on defending her work rather than writing it.
These claims are not supported in the poem, “How Do I Love Thee?” which depicts the author as a young love-stricken person conveying her love through writing. In contrast to this personal sonnet, Barrett Browning attacks industrialization in the poem “The Cry of the Children” by writing about children who labored and believed they would “die before [their] time”; Elizabeth Barrett Browning used this poem and many others as an outlet for her thoughts on political occurrences. The poem “How Do I Love Thee” was out of character for Elizabeth Barrett Browning who typically did not write about her personal life however, this was a special circumstance. Robert Browning, her husband had been a savior of sorts to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, rescuing her from the isolation where her father kept her in London. Her sonnet is not only an expression of love but also gratitude for freeing her from the lonely life she had been living with her controlling
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
Even the literature during this time had a lot to do with social improvement (Everett). Although Robert Browning was technically a “Victoria poet” he did not go along with the “typical Victorian style” that everyone from this time period was used to, Robert Browning had a very different style that included violence and many different dramatic verses (faculty.unlv.edu).
Elizabeth Barrett-Browning was a famous poet in Durham, England and Florence, Italy. She was a woman without education; yet, she still has achieved her goal of being a poet. She started writing poems when she was twelve years old. The poem she wrote when she was twelve was called The Battle of Marathon. 1.