Elizabeth Barrett Browning Biography

Dromo's Den

BROWNING, Elizabeth Barrett (1806-61). An English poet. She was the eldest daughter of Edward Moulton, or Moulton-Barrett, as he afterward wrote his name, and Mary Graham, and was born at Coxhoe Hall, 5 miles from the city of Durham, March 6, 1806. In 1809 the family settled in Herefordshire, among the Malvern Hills. Elizabeth early displayed great precocity, eagerly read books beyond the comprehension of most children, and when about 11 years old, composed an "epic poem," "The Battle of Marathon," an echo of Pope's Iliad. Taking up the study of the classics in the original, she read widely in Greek literature. In 1826 she published anonymously An Essay on Mind and Other Poems. In 1832 the family removed to Sidmouth, and three years later to London, where Miss Barrett established her reputation by The Seraphim and Other Poems (1838). The bursting of a blood vessel in the lungs, added to the shock caused by the death, in 1840, of a favorite brother, endangered her life, and for seven years she was confined to her room; but even here she resumed her labors, and in 1844 published Poems, including "The Cry of the Children," and "Lady Geraldine's Courtship," in which she praised Robert Browning's verse. On May 20, 1845, she first met him, and on Sept. 12, 1846, they were married against her father's wishes. Proceeding to Italy, they made Florence their home and there in 1849 a son was born, Robert Wiedemann Barrett, who became known as an artist and a poet. In 1850 appeared a collected edition of Mrs. Browning's poems, with revisions and omissions, containing also a new translation of the Prometheus Bound, and in 1856 Aurora Leigh, a romance, partly autobiographical, in blank verse. Casa Guidi Windows (1851) and Poems before Congress (1860), were inspired by her ardent sympathy with the movement to free Italy. By this time her health had begun to fail, and on June 29, 1861, she died. In 1862 Mr. Browning published a volume of verses by his wife, Last Poems; in 1863 her Greek Christian Poets and the English Poets, essays and translations originally written for the Athenœum, and in 1866 Selections from the Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (2d series, 1880). The married life of these brilliant poets was singularly happy, and their mutual influence is clearly seen in their verse. Indeed, it has been questioned by some eminent critics whether Mrs. Browning was not more truly a poet and more imbued with the genuine ardor of lyric poetry than even her distinguished husband. Mrs. Browning was slight in figure, had brilliant eyes, and an expressive face, was deeply spiritual, as all her writings show, fascinating in conversation, and erudite without being pedantic. Composing with great ease, she often employed false metres and fell into affectations, but it was well said of her that her diction was "at times sublime, and always musical and beautiful." The Sonnets from the Portuguese, which were in reality original compositions, written after her engagement to Mr. Browning (privately printed in 1847 and included in the volume of 1850), are unrivaled, of their kind, in the English language as an exquisite expression of pure yet passionate love. Consult: Ingram, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Boston, 1888); Bayne, Two Great Englishwomen (London, 1881); Letters of E. B. Browning, edited by Kenyon (London and New York, 1897); Letters of R. Browning and E. Barrett (London and New York, 1899); Lilian Whiting, Study of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Boston, 1899); Letters to R. H. Horne, edited by Stoddard (New York, 1877); P. Lubbock, E. B. Browning in her Letters (London, 1906); G. M. Merlette, La Vie et l'œuvre d'Elizabeth Browning (Paris, 1906); Lilian Whiting, The Brownings: Their Life and Art (1911); Fleckenstein, Die litterarischen Anschauungen und Kritiken Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Heidelberg, 1913). See also Browning, Robert, Bibliography.

The New International Encyclopaedia Vol IV. (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 45.