Elizabeth Barrett Browning Research Paper

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Biography When one thinks of Elizabeth Barrett Browning they often think of the sonnet titled “How Do I Love Thee?”. However, most people are not aware of her background and not only how it got her name out to the public, but also how her writings became more and more popular throughout the years of her life thanks to it. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a popular British poet who wrote sonnets and other poems during the Victorian Era. Sonnets from the Portuguese is one of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s most famous works. Known as one of her more recognizable work, “Sonnets from the Portuguese is composed of forty-four interlocking poems which Elizabeth had secretly written for her husband, Robert Browning” (Browning).

EBB’s husband, Robert Browning, was a major influence on her writing, especially Sonnets from the Portuguese. The collection of sonnets “was named as a homage to how her husband called her his “own little Portuguese” because of her olive complexion” (Browning). If it wasn’t for her love for her husband, she would have never written those sonnets. Without the influence of her brother, she wouldn’t have written some of her other famous works. According to Marjorie Stone, an author known for her in-depth research on Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Elizabeth, the eldest of her siblings, was soon followed by Edward, the closest companion of her childhood.” (Stone). Her relationship with her brother was very strong until, “on July 11, 1840, Edward, the brother dearest to her, drowned in a sailing accident. Out of this tribulation came some of her finest poems, including ‘De profundis’ and the sonnet ‘Grief’ (Stone). If she did not have such a strong relationship with her husband and her brother, some of her famous works would have never been written. Although she did not have much of an education, she still managed to become a successful writer. As a child, “she was educated by her mother” (Stone). In what was known as her apprenticeship years, “she engaged in an intensive programme of self-education, recording analytical comments on works by Locke, Hume, Hobbes, Berkeley, Byron, Southey,

Colonialism had an impact on the entire Barrett family as a whole.When she was young, “Elizabeth Barrett was extremely fortunate in the circumstances of her family background and environment. Her father, whose wealth was derived from extensive sugar plantations in Jamaica, was the proprietor of “Hope End,” an estate of almost 500 acres” (Taplin). Being financially stable, she did not have to worry about much when she was younger. Yet suddenly, her life had started to take a turn for the worse because “the year 1832 was a time of dramatic change for the Barrett family as well as for the nation. Financial difficulties intensified by Edward Moulton Barrett’s legal disputes forced the sale of Hope End” (Stone). If colonialism didn’t impact Browning’s family, her life would have never been the