Elizabeth Barrett Browning (born Moulton-Barrett; March 6, 1806 – June 29, 1861) was an English poet from the Victorian era. She was well-known in Britain and the United States during her lifetime, and her poems were often included in collections after her death. Her work became more widely studied in the 1970s and 1980s because of research about women writers. She was born in County Durham, England, and was the oldest of 12 children. Elizabeth began writing poetry at age 11. Her mother kept a collection of her early poems, which is one of the largest known collections of early works by an English writer. At age 15, she became very ill and suffered from severe pain in her head and spine for the rest of her life. Later, she also had lung problems, possibly tuberculosis. She used laudanum, a type of medicine, to manage her pain, which likely made her health worse.

In the 1840s, Elizabeth met John Kenyon, a distant cousin and supporter, who introduced her to literary circles. Her first collection of poems for adults was published in 1838, and she wrote many poems, translations, and essays from 1841 to 1844. She supported ending slavery and helped improve laws about child labor. Her large amount of work made her a competitor with Tennyson for the position of poet laureate after Wordsworth died. Her book Poems (1844) made her famous and earned the admiration of Robert Browning, a writer. They wrote letters to each other, fell in love, and married secretly because her father would not have approved. After the marriage, her father cut her out of his will. In 1846, the couple moved to Italy, where she lived until her death. Elizabeth died in Florence, Italy, in 1861. Her husband published a collection of her later poems shortly after her death.

She and Robert had a son named Robert Barrett, known as "Pen" (1849–1912). Pen became a painter until his eyesight worsened later in life. He collected many writings and personal items from his parents, but after his death, the collection was sold in a public auction and scattered. The Armstrong Browning Library has recovered some of these items and holds the largest collection of memorabilia related to the Brownings. Elizabeth’s writing influenced many important writers of her time, including American poets Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson. She is best known for poems such as "How Do I Love Thee?" (Sonnet 43, 1845) and Aurora Leigh (1856).

Life and career

Elizabeth Barrett’s family on both her mother’s and father’s sides made money from slavery. Her father’s family had lived in Jamaica since 1655, but he chose to raise his family in England while keeping his business in Jamaica. Their wealth came mostly from owning large plantations where enslaved people worked in the British West Indies. Edward Barrett owned 10,000 acres of land in Jamaica, including estates called Cinnamon Hill, Cornwall, Cambridge, and Oxford.

Elizabeth’s maternal grandfather owned sugar plantations, sugar cane mills, glassworks, and merchant ships that traded goods between Jamaica and Newcastle upon Tyne.

The Barrett family wanted to keep their name for future generations, requiring that "Barrett" always be used as a surname. In some cases, family members could only inherit money or property if they kept the name. This practice was common among wealthy British families. Because of this, Elizabeth used the full name "Elizabeth Barrett Moulton Barrett" on legal documents. Before she married, she often signed her name as "Elizabeth Barrett Barrett" or "EBB" (her initials).

Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett was born (it is believed) on March 6, 1806, at Coxhoe Hall, a home between the villages of Coxhoe and Kelloe in County Durham, England. Her parents were Edward Barrett Moulton-Barrett and Mary Graham Clarke. Some historians think she was already three or four months old when she was baptized on March 9, 1806, because her parents had married only on May 14, 1805. She was baptized again publicly on February 10, 1808, at Kelloe parish church, along with her younger brother, Edward (called "Bro"). Bro was born in June 1807, 15 months after Elizabeth’s stated birth date. A private baptism might seem unusual for a family of her parents’ status, and Bro’s birth was celebrated with a holiday on the family’s Caribbean plantations, but Elizabeth’s was not.

Elizabeth was the oldest of 12 children (eight boys and four girls). Eleven of her siblings lived to adulthood; one daughter died at age 3 when Elizabeth was 8. The children had nicknames: Elizabeth was called "Ba." She rode ponies, went on family walks and picnics, socialized with other families, and acted in home plays. Unlike her siblings, she spent much of her time reading books instead of focusing on social events.

In 1809, the family moved to Hope End, a 500-acre estate near the Malvern Hills in Herefordshire. Her father turned a Georgian house into stables and built a mansion with Turkish-style design, which her mother described as resembling scenes from The Arabian Nights. Inside, the house had brass railings, mahogany doors with mother-of-pearl inlays, and carved fireplaces. The estate also had ponds, grottos, kiosks, an ice house, a hothouse, and a tunnel connecting the house to the gardens. Her time at Hope End inspired her later work, Aurora Leigh (1856), which was published in over 20 editions by 1900.

Elizabeth was homeschooled by Daniel McSwiney and her oldest brother. She began writing poems at age 4. During her time at Hope End, she was very studious and advanced for her age. She said she read novels at 6, became interested in Homer’s works at 8, studied Greek at 10, and wrote her own epic poem, The Battle of Marathon: A Poem, at 11.

In 1820, Mr. Barrett privately published The Battle of Marathon, but all copies stayed within the family. Her mother collected her poems into books titled Poems by Elizabeth B. Barrett. Her father called her the "Poet Laureate of Hope End" and supported her writing. This collection of her early works is one of the largest by any English writer. Mary Russell Mitford described young Elizabeth as having a small, delicate frame, dark curls, expressive eyes, and a bright smile.

Around this time, Elizabeth began suffering from an illness that doctors could not diagnose. All three of her sisters had similar symptoms, but only Elizabeth’s illness lasted. She had severe pain in her head and spine and lost mobility. Some biographers think this started after a riding accident, but there is no proof. She was sent to a spa in Gloucester for treatment, where doctors focused on her spine. This illness lasted her entire life and was separate from the lung disease she developed in 1837.

She began taking painkillers, first laudanum (a type of opium) and later morphine, which were commonly prescribed at the time. She became dependent on these medicines for most of her life. Some historians believe this dependence may have made her imagination more vivid and influenced her poetry.

By 1821, after reading Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), Elizabeth became a strong supporter of Wollstonecraft’s ideas about women’s rights. She had a deep interest in ancient texts and religious ideas, which she described as "wild visions of an enthusiast." The Barrett family attended services at a nearby chapel, and Edward was active in Bible and missionary groups.

Elizabeth’s mother died in 1828 and is buried at St. Michael’s Church in Ledbury, next to her daughter Mary. Her aunt, Sarah Graham-Clarke, helped care for the children but had disagreements with Elizabeth’s strong personality. In 1831, Elizabeth’s grandmother, Elizabeth Moulton, died. After slavery was abolished and lawsuits hurt his finances, Mr. Barrett lost money and had to sell Hope End. Though the family was never poor, the estate was sold to pay debts. Mr. Barrett kept his financial matters private, and the family worried they might have to move to Jamaica.

From 1833 to 1835, Elizabeth lived with her family at Belle Vue in Sidmouth. The site was later renamed Cedar Shade and rebuilt. A blue plaque marks where the home once stood. In 1838, after selling Hope End, the family moved to 50 Wimpole Street in Marylebone, London.

Between 1837 and 1838, Elizabeth fell seriously ill again, with symptoms suggesting a lung infection. Her doctor advised her to move to Torquay on the Devonshire coast. Her former home is now part of the Regina Hotel. Two sad events followed: In February 1840, her brother Samuel died of a fever in Jamaica, and in July 1840, her favorite brother, Edward (Bro), drowned during a sailing accident in Torquay. These events worsened her already weak health. She felt guilty because her father had not approved of Bro’s trip to Torquay. She wrote to Mary Russell Mitford: "That was a very near escape from madness, absolute hopeless madness." The family returned to Wimpole Street in 1841.

At Wimpole Street, Elizabeth spent most of her time in her upstairs room. Her health improved slightly, but she rarely saw people outside her family. One person

Spiritual influence

Barrett Browning's work often includes religious themes. She read and studied books like Milton's Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno. In her writing, she wrote, "We want the deep influence of Christ's sacrifice on the hearts of our poets, so that they can express the pain of humanity and turn it into renewal. This idea has appeared in art during its most powerful times. Some signs of this longing can be found in Greek Christian poets, though it would have been stronger with greater talent." She believed that "Christ's religion is essentially poetry – poetry that is honored and elevated." She explored religious ideas in many of her poems, especially in her early works, such as her sonnets.

She was interested in religious discussions, learned Hebrew, and read the Hebrew Bible. Her important work Aurora Leigh, for example, includes religious images and references to the end of the world. The critic Cynthia Scheinberg points out that female characters in Aurora Leigh and her earlier work The Virgin Mary to the Child Jesus are connected to Miriam, the sister and caregiver of Moses. These references to Miriam in both poems show how Barrett Browning used Jewish history in her writing, while also keeping a distance from it to fit the cultural expectations of a Christian woman poet in the Victorian Age.

In letters she wrote to Reverend William Merry from 1843 to 1844 about predestination and salvation through actions, she identified herself as a Congregationalist: "I am not a Baptist — but a Congregational Christian, — in the holding of my private opinions."

Barrett Browning Institute

In 1892, the town of Ledbury in Herefordshire held a competition to design an Institute honoring Barrett Browning. Brightwen Binyon's design was chosen over 44 others. The building was inspired by the timber-framed Market House, which stood across from the construction site, and was finished in 1896. However, Nikolaus Pevsner did not approve of its style. From 1938 to 2021, the building served as a public library until new library facilities were built for the town. It then became the headquarters of the Ledbury Poetry Festival. The structure has been listed as Grade II since 2007.

Critical reception

"How Do I Love Thee? How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death."

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was very popular in the United Kingdom and the United States during her lifetime. Edgar Allan Poe was inspired by her poem Lady Geraldine's Courtship and used the same rhythm in his poem The Raven. Poe reviewed her work in the January 1845 issue of the Broadway Journal, writing that "her poetic inspiration is the highest – we can conceive of nothing more august. Her sense of Art is pure in itself." In return, she praised The Raven, and Poe dedicated his 1845 collection The Raven and Other Poems to her, calling her "the noblest of her sex."

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry greatly influenced Emily Dickinson, who admired her as a woman of achievement. Her popularity in the United States and Britain grew because she spoke out against social injustice, including slavery in the United States, unfair treatment of Italians under foreign rulers, and child labor.

Lilian Whiting wrote a biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning in 1899, describing her as "the most philosophical poet" and portraying her life as "a Gospel of applied Christianity." Whiting believed the idea that "art for art's sake" did not fit Barrett Browning's work, as each of her poems had a clear purpose and came from a "honest vision." She also said Barrett Browning used knowledge of Classical literature with a "intuitive gift of spiritual divination." Angela Leighton, in Elizabeth Barrett Browning, argues that seeing Barrett Browning as a "pious iconography of womanhood" has distracted people from her poetic achievements. Leighton points to the 1931 play The Barretts of Wimpole Street by Rudolf Besier as evidence that 20th-century literary criticism of Barrett Browning's work suffered more from her popularity than from poor writing. The play became famous because of actress Katharine Cornell, who performed it often. It was a major success, both artistically and commercially, and was revived several times and adapted into movies twice. Sampson, however, believes the play caused many false beliefs about Elizabeth, especially about her relationship with her father, whom some claimed was "tyrannical."

Throughout the 20th century, literary criticism of Barrett Browning's poetry was limited until her poems were rediscovered by the women's movement. She once said she disagreed with some women's rights ideas, writing in letters that she believed women had less intellectual ability than men. In Aurora Leigh, however, she created a strong and independent woman who balances work and love. Leighton explains that because Elizabeth participates in a literary world where men's voices are often seen as more powerful, she "is defined only in mysterious opposition to everything that distinguishes the male subject who writes…" A five-volume scholarly edition of her works was published in 2010, the first in over a century.

Works (collections)

• 1820: The Battle of Marathon: A Poem. Privately printed
• 1826: An Essay on Mind, with Other Poems. London: James Duncan
• 1833: Prometheus Bound, Translated from the Greek of Aeschylus, and Miscellaneous Poems. London: A.J. Valpy
• 1838: The Seraphim, and Other Poems. London: Saunders and Otley
• 1844: Poems (UK) / A Drama of Exile, and Other Poems (US). London: Edward Moxon. New York: Henry G. Langley
• 1850: Poems ("New Edition", 2 vols.). Revision of 1844 edition adding Sonnets from the Portuguese and others. London: Chapman & Hall
• 1851: Casa Guidi Windows. London: Chapman & Hall
• 1853: Poems (3d ed.). London: Chapman & Hall
• 1854: Two Poems: "A Plea for the Ragged Schools of London" (by Elizabeth Barrett Browning) and "The Twins" (by Robert Browning). London: Chapman & Hall
• 1856: Poems (4th ed.). London: Chapman & Hall
• 1856: Aurora Leigh. London: Chapman & Hall
• 1860: Poems Before Congress. London: Chapman & Hall
• 1862: Last Poems. London: Chapman & Hall

• 1863: The Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets. London: Chapman & Hall
• 1877: The Earlier Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1826–1833, ed. Richard Herne Shepherd. London: Bartholomew Robson
• 1877: Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Addressed to Richard Hengist Horne, with comments on contemporaries, 2 vols., ed. S.R.T. Mayer. London: Richard Bentley & Son
• 1897: Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 2 vols., ed. Frederic G. Kenyon. London: Smith, Elder, & Co.
• 1899: Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett 1845–1846, 2 vol., ed. Robert W. Barrett Browning. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• 1914: New Poems by Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ed. Frederic G Kenyon. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• 1929: Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Letters to Her Sister, 1846–1859, ed. Leonard Huxley. London: John Murray
• 1935: Twenty-Two Unpublished Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning to Henrietta and Arabella Moulton Barrett. New York: United Feature Syndicate
• 1939: Letters from Elizabeth Barrett to B.R. Haydon, ed. Martha Hale Shackford. New York: Oxford University Press
• 1954: Elizabeth Barrett to Miss Mitford, ed. Betty Miller. London: John Murray
• 1955: Unpublished Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Hugh Stuart Boyd, ed. Barbara P. McCarthy. New Heaven, Conn.: Yale University Press
• 1958: Letters of the Brownings to George Barrett, ed. Paul Landis with Ronald E. Freeman. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
• 1974: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Letters to Mrs. David Ogilvy, 1849–1861, ed. P. Heydon and P. Kelley. New York: Quadrangle, New York Times Book Co., and Browning Institute
• 1984: The Brownings' Correspondence, ed. Phillip Kelley, Ronald Hudson, and Scott Lewis. Winfield, Kansas: Wedgestone Press