114-694: Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett ; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era , popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime and frequently anthologised after her death. Her work received renewed attention following the feminist scholarship of the 1970s and 1980s, and greater recognition of women writers in English. Born in County Durham ,
228-405: A Congregationalist : "I am not a Baptist — but a Congregational Christian, — in the holding of my private opinions." In 1892, Ledbury, Herefordshire, held a design competition to build an Institute in honour of Barrett Browning. Brightwen Binyon beat 44 other designs. It was based on the timber-framed Market House, which was opposite the site, and was completed in 1896. However, Nikolaus Pevsner
342-549: A feminist movement developed. Parental authority was seen as important, but children were given legal protections against abuse and neglect for the first time towards the end of the period. Access to education increased rapidly during the 19th century. State-funded schools were established in England and Wales for the first time. Education became compulsory for pre-teenaged children in England, Scotland and Wales. Literacy rates increased rapidly, and had become nearly universal by
456-406: A copy to him as "a tribute of admiration & respect", which began a correspondence between them. "Since she was not burdened with any domestic duties expected of her sisters, Barrett Browning could now devote herself entirely to the life of the mind, cultivating an enormous correspondence, reading widely". Her prolific output made her a rival to Tennyson as a candidate for poet laureate in 1850 on
570-604: A democracy. The political legacy of the reform movement was to link the nonconformists (part of the evangelical movement) in England and Wales with the Liberal Party . This continued until the First World War . The Presbyterians played a similar role as a religious voice for reform in Scotland. Religion was politically controversial during this era, with Nonconformists pushing for the disestablishment of
684-521: A face like a girl's...Her last word was...'Beautiful' ". She was buried in the Protestant English Cemetery of Florence . "On Monday July 1 the shops in the area around Casa Guidi were closed, while Elizabeth was mourned with unusual demonstrations." The nature of her illness is still unclear. Some modern scientists speculate her illness may have been hypokalemic periodic paralysis , a genetic disorder that causes weakness and many of
798-450: A family friend in that first week of her life, she was baptised again, more publicly, on 10 February 1808 at Kelloe parish church, at the same time as her younger brother, Edward (known as Bro). He had been born in June 1807, 15 months after Elizabeth's stated date of birth. A private christening might seem unlikely for a family of standing, and while Bro's birth was celebrated with a holiday on
912-455: A fashion among employers for providing welfare services to their workers, led to relative social stability. The Chartist movement for working-class men to be given the right to vote, which had been prominent in the early Victorian period, dissipated. Government involvement in the economy was limited. Only in the post-World War II period , around a century later, did the country experience substantial economic growth again. But whilst industry
1026-408: A female writer making her way in life, balancing work and love, and based on Elizabeth's own experiences. Aurora Leigh was an important influence on Susan B. Anthony 's thinking about the traditional roles of women, with regard to marriage versus independent individuality. The North American Review praised Elizabeth's poem: "Mrs. Browning's poems are, in all respects, the utterance of a woman — of
1140-462: A hothouse, and a subterranean passage from house to gardens. Her time at Hope End inspired her in later life to write Aurora Leigh (1856), her most ambitious work, which went through more than 20 editions by 1900, but none from 1905 to 1978. She was educated at home and tutored by Daniel McSwiney with her oldest brother. She began writing verses at the age of four. During the Hope End period, she
1254-445: A major employer and industry in their own right. Expected standards of personal conduct changed in around the first half of the 19th century, with good manners and self-restraint becoming much more common. Historians have suggested various contributing factors, such as Britain's major conflicts with France during the early 19th century, meaning that the distracting temptations of sinful behaviour had to be avoided in order to focus on
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#17327936096551368-447: A period between the 1860s and 1880s subject to spot compulsory examinations for sexually transmitted infections , and detainment if they were found to be infected. This caused a great deal of resentment among women in general due to the principle underlying the checks, that women had to be controlled in order to be safe for sexual use by men, and the checks were opposed by some of the earliest feminist campaigning. Coxhoe Coxhoe
1482-540: A physical being, she was becoming a shadow of herself." The courtship and marriage between Robert Browning and Elizabeth were made secretly as she knew her father would disapprove. After a private marriage at St Marylebone Parish Church , they honeymooned in Paris and then moved to Italy in September 1846, which became their home almost continuously until her death. Elizabeth's loyal lady's maid Elizabeth Wilson witnessed
1596-430: A rise in prosecutions for illegal sodomy in the middle of the 19th century. Male sexuality became a favourite subject of medical researchers' study. For the first time, all male homosexual acts were outlawed. Concern about sexual exploitation of adolescent girls increased during the period, especially following the white slavery scandal , which contributed to the increasing of the age of consent from 13 to 16 . At
1710-442: A rival to Tennyson as a candidate for poet laureate on the death of Wordsworth . Elizabeth's volume Poems (1844) brought her great success, attracting the admiration of the writer Robert Browning . Their correspondence, courtship, and marriage were carried out in secret, for fear of her father's disapproval. Following the wedding, she was indeed disinherited by her father. In 1846, the couple moved to Italy , where she lived for
1824-546: A role in economic life but exploitation of their labour became especially intense during the Victorian era. Children were put to work in a wide range of occupations, but particularly associated with this period are factories. Employing children had advantages, as they were cheap, had limited ability to resist harsh working conditions, and could enter spaces too small for adults. Some accounts exist of happy upbringings involving child labour, but conditions were generally poor. Pay
1938-598: A sailing accident in Torquay in July. These events had a serious effect on her already fragile health. She felt guilty as her father had disapproved of Edward's trip to Torquay. She wrote to 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 began to improve, but she saw few people other than her immediate family. One of those
2052-406: A smile like a sunbeam." At about this time, Elizabeth began to battle an illness, which the medical science of the time was unable to diagnose. All three sisters came down with the syndrome, but it lasted only with Elizabeth. She had intense head and spinal pain with loss of mobility. Various biographies link this to a riding accident at the time (she fell while trying to dismount a horse), but there
2166-573: A substantial part of the metropolis... In big, once handsome houses, thirty or more people of all ages may inhabit a single room Hunger and poor diet was a common aspect of life across the UK in the Victorian period, especially in the 1840s, but the mass starvation seen in the Great Famine in Ireland was unique. Levels of poverty fell significantly during the 19th century from as much as two thirds of
2280-516: A surname. In some cases, inheritance was given on condition that the name was used by the beneficiary; the British upper class had long encouraged this sort of name changing . Given this strong tradition, Elizabeth used "Elizabeth Barrett Moulton Barrett" on legal documents, and before she was married, she often signed herself "Elizabeth Barrett Barrett" or "EBB" (initials which she was able to keep after her wedding). Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett
2394-475: A symbol of the British Empire. Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901. The Victorian era saw a rapidly growing middle class who became an important cultural influence, to a significant extent replacing the aristocracy as British society's dominant class. A distinctive middle-class lifestyle developed that influenced what society valued as a whole. Increased importance was placed on the value of
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#17327936096552508-687: A time when job options for women were limited and generally low-paying, some women, particularly those without familial support, took to prostitution to support themselves. Attitudes in public life and among the general population to prostitution varied. Evidence about prostitutes' situation also varies. One contemporary study argues that the trade was a short-term stepping stone to a different lifestyle for many women, while another, more recent study argues they were subject to physical abuse, financial exploitation, state persecution, and difficult working conditions. Due to worries about venereal disease , especially among soldiers, women suspected of prostitution were for
2622-461: A wide range of new inventions. This led Great Britain to become the foremost industrial and trading nation of the time. Historians have characterised the mid-Victorian era (1850–1870) as Britain's 'Golden Years', with national income per person increasing by half. This prosperity was driven by increased industrialisation, especially in textiles and machinery, along with exports to the empire and elsewhere. The positive economic conditions, as well as
2736-569: A wide-ranging change to the electoral system of England and Wales . Definitions that purport a distinct sensibility or politics to the era have also created scepticism about the worth of the label 'Victorian', though there have also been defences of it. Michael Sadleir was insistent that "in truth, the Victorian period is three periods, and not one". He distinguished early Victorianism—the socially and politically unsettled period from 1837 to 1850 —and late Victorianism (from 1880 onwards), with its new waves of aestheticism and imperialism , from
2850-461: A woman of great learning, rich experience, and powerful genius, uniting to her woman's nature the strength which is sometimes thought peculiar to a man." Much of Barrett Browning's work carries a religious theme. She had read and studied such works as Milton 's Paradise Lost and Dante 's Inferno . She says in her writing, "We want the sense of the saturation of Christ's blood upon the souls of our poets, that it may cry through them in answer to
2964-414: Is a village in County Durham , England. It is situated about 5 miles (8 km) south of Durham City centre. The civil parish also includes nearby Quarrington Hill . The electoral ward of Coxhoe stretches beyond the boundaries of the parish and has a total population of 7,027. The earliest artifact to have been found in the area is a simple Bronze Age axe. There are few other remains from before
3078-400: Is debate about the origin of the title. Some say it refers to the series of sonnets of the 16th-century Portuguese poet Luís de Camões . However, "my little Portuguese" was a pet name that Browning had adopted for Elizabeth and this may have some connection. The verse-novel Aurora Leigh , her most ambitious and perhaps the most popular of her longer poems, appeared in 1856. It is the story of
3192-810: Is in dispute, but her position on slavery in the poems is clear and may have led to a rift between Elizabeth and her father. She wrote to John Ruskin in 1855 "I belong to a family of West Indian slaveholders, and if I believed in curses, I should be afraid". Her father and uncle were unaffected by the Baptist War (1831–1832) and continued to own slaves until passage of the Slavery Abolition Act. In London, John Kenyon introduced Elizabeth to literary figures including William Wordsworth , Mary Russell Mitford , Samuel Taylor Coleridge , Alfred Tennyson and Thomas Carlyle . Elizabeth continued to write, contributing "The Romaunt of Margaret", "The Romaunt of
3306-455: Is likely to have contributed to her frail health. In the 1840s, Elizabeth was introduced to literary society through her distant cousin and patron John Kenyon . Her first adult collection of poems was published in 1838, and she wrote prolifically from 1841 to 1844, producing poetry, translation, and prose. She campaigned for the abolition of slavery , and her work helped influence reform in child labour legislation . Her prolific output made her
3420-545: Is no evidence to support the link. Sent to recover at the Gloucester spa, she was treated – in the absence of symptoms supporting another diagnosis – for a spinal problem. This illness continued for the rest of her life, and it is believed to be unrelated to the lung disease which she developed in 1837. She began to take opiates for the pain, laudanum (an opium concoction) followed by morphine, then commonly prescribed. She became dependent on them for much of her adulthood;
3534-456: Is now called classical music was somewhat undeveloped compared to parts of Europe but did have significant support. Photography became an increasingly accessible and popular part of everyday life. Many sports were introduced or popularised during the Victorian era. They became important to male identity. Examples included cricket , football , rugby , tennis and cycling . The idea of women participating in sport did not fit well with
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3648-408: 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, referring to her as "the noblest of her sex". Barrett Browning's poetry greatly influenced Emily Dickinson , who admired her as a woman of achievement. Her popularity in the United States and Britain
3762-530: The Church of England . Nonconformists comprised about half of church attendees in England in 1851, and gradually the legal discrimination that had been established against them outside of Scotland was removed. Legal restrictions on Roman Catholics were also largely removed . The number of Catholics grew in Great Britain due to conversions and immigration from Ireland . Secularism and doubts about
3876-755: The Georgian era and preceded the Edwardian era , and its later half overlaps with the first part of the Belle Époque era of continental Europe. Various liberalising political reforms took place in the UK, including expanding the electoral franchise. The Great Famine caused mass death in Ireland early in the period. The British Empire had relatively peaceful relations with the other great powers . It participated in various military conflicts mainly against minor powers. The British Empire expanded during this period and
3990-570: The Pax Britannica , was a time of relatively peaceful relations between the world's great powers . This is particularly true of Britain's interactions with the others. The only war in which the British Empire fought against another major power was the Crimean War , from 1853 to 1856. There were various revolts and violent conflicts within the British Empire, and Britain participated in wars against minor powers. It also took part in
4104-620: The Villa Alberti . Engrossed in Italian politics, she issued a small volume of political poems titled Poems before Congress (1860) "most of which were written to express her sympathy with the Italian cause after the outbreak of fighting in 1859 ". They caused a furore in Britain, and the conservative magazines Blackwood's and the Saturday Review labelled her a fanatic. She dedicated this book to her husband. Her last work
4218-787: The colony of Jamaica since 1655, though her father chose to raise his family in England, while his business enterprises remained in Jamaica. Their wealth derived primarily from the ownership of slave plantations in the British West Indies . Edward Barrett owned 10,000 acres (40 km) of land in the estates of Cinnamon Hill , Cornwall , Cambridge and Oxford in northern Jamaica. Elizabeth's maternal grandfather owned sugar plantations , sugar cane mills , glassworks and merchant ships which traded between Jamaica and Newcastle upon Tyne . The family wished to hand down their name, stipulating that Barrett always should be held as
4332-587: The 'workshop of the world', Britain was uniquely advanced in technology in the mid-19th century. Engineering, having developed into a profession in the 18th century, gained new profile and prestige in this period. The Victorian era saw methods of communication and transportation develop significantly. In 1837, William Fothergill Cooke and Charles Wheatstone invented the first telegraph system . This system, which used electrical currents to transmit coded messages, quickly spread across Britain, appearing in every town and post office. A worldwide network developed towards
4446-587: The 1880s, sanitation was inadequate in areas such as water supply and disposal of sewage. This all had a negative effect on health, especially that of the impoverished young. For instance, of the babies born in Liverpool in 1851, only 45 per cent survived to age 20. It had been hoped that there would be a rapid improvement following the Public Baths and Wash-houses Act 1846. This was the first legislation to empower local authorities in England and Wales to fund
4560-462: The 1931 play by Rudolf Besier The Barretts of Wimpole Street as evidence that 20th-century literary criticism of Barrett Browning's work has suffered more as a result of her popularity than poetic ineptitude. The play was popularized by actress Katharine Cornell , for whom it became a signature role. It was an enormous success, both artistically and commercially, and was revived several times and adapted twice into movies. Sampson, however, considers
4674-413: The 19th century and germ theory was developed for the first time. Doctors became more specialised and the number of hospitals grew. The overall number of deaths fell by about 20%. The life expectancy of women increased from around 42 to 55 and 40 to 56 for men. In spite of this, the mortality rate fell only marginally, from 20.8 per thousand in 1850 to 18.2 by the end of the century. Urbanisation aided
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4788-550: The 19th century for the first time in history, improved nutrition, and a lower overall mortality rate. Ireland's population shrank significantly, mostly due to emigration and the Great Famine. The professionalisation of scientific study began in parts of Europe following the French Revolution but was slow to reach Britain. William Whewell coined the term 'scientist' in 1833 to refer to those who studied what
4902-454: The Bible. A variety of reading materials grew in popularity during the period, including novels, women's magazines, children's literature, and newspapers. Much literature, including chapbooks , was distributed on the street. Music was also very popular, with genres such as folk music , broadsides , music halls , brass bands , theater music and choral music having mass appeal. What
5016-490: The British Empire, reform included rapid expansion, the complete abolition of slavery in the African possessions and the end of transportation of convicts to Australia . Restrictions on colonial trade were loosened and responsible (i.e. semi-autonomous) government was introduced in some territories. Throughout most of the 19th century Britain was the most powerful country in the world. The period from 1815 to 1914 , known as
5130-664: The Child Jesus" allude to Miriam, sister and caregiver to Moses. These allusions to Miriam in both poems mirror the way in which Barrett Browning herself drew from Jewish history, while distancing herself from it, in order to maintain the cultural norms of a Christian woman poet of the Victorian Age. In the correspondence Barrett Browning kept with the Reverend William Merry from 1843 to 1844 on predestination and salvation by works, she identifies herself as
5244-553: The Origin of Species (1859), which sought to explain biological evolution by natural selection, gained a high profile in the public consciousness. Simplified (and at times inaccurate) popular science was increasingly distributed through a variety of publications which caused tension with the professionals. There were significant advances in various fields of research, including statistics , elasticity , refrigeration , natural history , electromagnetism , and logic . Known as
5358-515: The Page", "The Poet's Vow" and other pieces to various periodicals. She corresponded with other writers, including Mary Russell Mitford , who became a close friend and who supported Elizabeth's literary ambitions. In 1838 The Seraphim and Other Poems appeared, the first volume of Elizabeth's mature poetry to appear under her own name. Sonnets from the Portuguese was published in 1850. There
5472-602: The Portuguese , 1845 (published 1850) Barrett Browning was widely 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 specifically borrowed the poem's metre for his poem The Raven . Poe had reviewed Barrett Browning's work in the January 1845 issue of the Broadway Journal , writing that "her poetic inspiration
5586-408: The Victorian era covers the duration of Victoria's reign as Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , from her accession on 20 June 1837—after the death of her uncle, William IV —until her death on 22 January 1901, after which she was succeeded by her eldest son, Edward VII . Her reign lasted 63 years and seven months, a longer period than any of her predecessors. The term 'Victorian'
5700-420: The Victorian heyday: mid-Victorianism, 1851 to 1879. He saw the latter period as characterised by a distinctive mixture of prosperity, domestic prudery , and complacency —what G. M. Trevelyan called the 'mid-Victorian decades of quiet politics and roaring prosperity'. The Reform Act , which made various changes to the electoral system including expanding the franchise, had been passed in 1832. The franchise
5814-638: The Victorian view of femininity, but their involvement did increase as the period progressed. For the middle classes, many leisure activities such as table games could be done in the home while domestic holidays to rural locations such as the Lake District and Scottish Highlands were increasingly practical. The working classes had their own culture separate from that of their richer counterparts, various cheaper forms of entertainment and recreational activities provided by philanthropy . Trips to resorts such as Blackpool were increasingly popular towards
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#17327936096555928-451: The West." The rapid growth in the urban population included the new industrial and manufacturing cities, as well as service centres such as Edinburgh and London. Private renting from housing landlords was the dominant tenure. P. Kemp says this was usually of advantage to tenants. Overcrowding was a major problem with seven or eight people frequently sleeping in a single room. Until at least
6042-504: The accuracy of the Old Testament grew among people with higher levels of education. Northern English and Scottish academics tended to be more religiously conservative, whilst agnosticism and even atheism (though its promotion was illegal) gained appeal among academics in the south. Historians refer to a 'Victorian Crisis of Faith', a period when religious views had to readjust to accommodate new scientific knowledge and criticism of
6156-586: The age of 43, between four miscarriages, she gave birth to a son, Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning , whom they called Pen. Their son later married, but had no legitimate children. At her husband's insistence, Elizabeth's second edition of Poems included her love sonnets; as a result, her popularity increased (as did critical regard), and her artistic position was confirmed. During the years of her marriage, her literary reputation far surpassed that of her poet-husband; when visitors came to their home in Florence, she
6270-627: The attention of Hugh Stuart Boyd , a blind scholar of the Greek language, and of Uvedale Price , another Greek scholar, with whom she maintained sustained correspondence. Among other neighbours was Mrs James Martin from Colwall, with whom she corresponded throughout her life. Later, at Boyd's suggestion, she translated Aeschylus ' Prometheus Bound (published in 1833; retranslated in 1850). During their friendship, Barrett studied Greek literature, including Homer , Pindar and Aristophanes . Elizabeth opposed slavery and published two poems highlighting
6384-639: The barbarity of the institution and her support for the abolitionist cause: "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point" and "A Curse for a Nation". The first depicts an enslaved woman whipped, raped, and made pregnant cursing her enslavers. Elizabeth declared herself glad that the slaves were "virtually free" when the Slavery Abolition Act passed in the British Parliament despite the fact that her father believed that abolition would ruin his business. The date of publication of these poems
6498-411: The basis for welfare provision into the 20th century. While many people were prone to vices, not least alcoholism, historian Bernard A. Cook argues that the main reason for 19th century poverty was that typical wages for much of the population were simply too low. Barely enough to provide a subsistence living in good times, let alone save up for bad. Improvements were made over time to housing along with
6612-466: The building of public baths and wash houses but, since the act was only permissive rather than mandatory, improvement was slow. Conditions were particularly bad in London, where the population rose sharply and poorly maintained, overcrowded dwellings became slum housing. Kellow Chesney wrote of the situation: Hideous slums, some of them acres wide, some no more than crannies of obscure misery, make up
6726-519: The ceaseless wail of the Sphinx of our humanity, expounding agony into renovation. Something of this has been perceived in art when its glory was at the fullest. Something of a yearning after this may be seen among the Greek Christian poets , something which would have been much with a stronger faculty". She believed that "Christ's religion is essentially poetry – poetry glorified". She explored
6840-468: The child's poetry into collections of "Poems by Elizabeth B. Barrett". Her father called her the "Poet Laureate of Hope End" and encouraged her work. The result is one of the larger collections of juvenilia of any English writer. Mary Russell Mitford described the young Elizabeth at this time as having "a slight, delicate figure, with a shower of dark curls falling on each side of a most expressive face; large, tender eyes, richly fringed by dark eyelashes, and
6954-489: The children in school; in 1840 only about 20 per cent of the children in London had any schooling. By the 1850s, around half of the children in England and Wales were in school (not including Sunday school ). From the 1833 Factory Act onwards, attempts were made to get child labourers into part time education, though this was often difficult to achieve. Only in the 1870s and 1880s did children begin to be compelled into school. Work continued to inhibit children's schooling into
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#17327936096557068-432: The children, and she had clashes with Elizabeth's strong will. In 1831, Elizabeth's grandmother, Elizabeth Moulton, died. Following lawsuits and the abolition of slavery, Mr Barrett incurred great financial and investment losses that forced him to sell Hope End. Although the family was never poor, the place was seized and sold to satisfy creditors. Always secret in his financial dealings, he would not discuss his situation, and
7182-476: The classics and metaphysics was reflected in a religious intensity which she later described as "not the deep persuasion of the mild Christian but the wild visions of an enthusiast." The Barretts attended services at the nearest Dissenting chapel, and Edward was active in Bible and missionary societies . Elizabeth's mother died in 1828, and is buried at St Michael's Church, Ledbury, next to her daughter Mary. Sarah Graham-Clarke, Elizabeth's aunt, helped to care for
7296-438: The coal industry are still visible nearby. The buildings of Heugh Hall are now part of a farm, and the course of its wagon way is still visible as an earthwork. Coxhoe had two railway stations, one at the south end and one at the north. There was a pottery at Coxhoe from 1769 producing coarse brown pots, and from 1851 it also began to make clay tobacco pipes. Coxhoe also had its own gasworks, which produced gas from local coal; it
7410-524: The death of Wordsworth . A Royal Society of Arts blue plaque now commemorates Elizabeth at 50 Wimpole Street. Her 1844 volume Poems made her one of the more popular writers in the country and inspired Robert Browning to write to her. He wrote "I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett," praising their "fresh strange music, the affluent language, the exquisite pathos and true new brave thought." Kenyon arranged for Browning to meet Elizabeth on 20 May 1845, in her rooms, and so began one of
7524-742: The diplomatic struggles of the Great Game and the Scramble for Africa . In 1840, Queen Victoria married her German cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha . The couple had nine children, who themselves married into various royal families, and the queen thus became known as the 'grandmother of Europe'. In 1861, Albert died. Victoria went into mourning and withdrew from public life for ten years. In 1871, with republican sentiments growing in Britain, she began to return to public life. In her later years, her popularity soared as she became
7638-474: The early 20th century. 19th-century Britain saw a huge population increase accompanied by rapid urbanisation stimulated by the Industrial Revolution. In the 1901 census , more than three out of every four people were classified as living in an urban area, compared to one in five a century earlier. Historian Richard A. Soloway wrote that "Great Britain had become the most urbanized country in
7752-422: The eldest of 12 children, Elizabeth Barrett wrote poetry from the age of eleven. Her mother's collection of her poems forms one of the largest extant collections of juvenilia by any English writer. At 15, she became ill, suffering intense head and spinal pain for the rest of her life. Later in life, she also developed lung problems, possibly tuberculosis . She took laudanum for the pain from an early age, which
7866-424: The end of period. Initially the industrial revolution increased working hours, but over the course of the 19th century a variety of political and economic changes caused them to fall back down to and in some cases below pre-industrial levels, creating more time for leisure. Before the Industrial Revolution, daily life had changed little for hundreds of years. The 19th century saw rapid technological development with
7980-453: The end of the century. Private education for wealthier children, boys and more gradually girls, became more formalised over the course of the century. The growing middle class and strong evangelical movement placed great emphasis on a respectable and moral code of behaviour. This included features such as charity, personal responsibility, controlled habits, child discipline and self-criticism. As well as personal improvement, importance
8094-470: The end of the century. In 1876, an American patented the telephone . A little over a decade later, 26,000 telephones were in service in Britain. Multiple switchboards were installed in every major town and city. Guglielmo Marconi developed early radio broadcasting at the end of the period. The railways were important economically in the Victorian era, allowing goods, raw materials, and people to be moved around, stimulating trade and industry. They were also
8208-544: 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. Sonnet XLIII from Sonnets from
8322-476: The family was haunted by the idea that they might have to move to Jamaica. From 1833 to 1835, she was living with her family at Belle Vue in Sidmouth. The site has now been renamed Cedar Shade and redeveloped. A blue plaque at the entrance to the site attests to its previous existence. In 1838, some years after the sale of Hope End, the family settled at 50 Wimpole Street , Marylebone, London. During 1837–1838,
8436-490: The family's Caribbean plantations, Elizabeth's was not. Elizabeth was the eldest of 12 children (eight boys and four girls). Eleven lived to adulthood; one daughter died at the age of 3, when Elizabeth was 8. The children all had nicknames: Elizabeth was Ba. She rode her pony, went for family walks and picnics, socialised with other county families, and participated in home theatrical productions. Unlike her siblings, she immersed herself in books as often as she could get away from
8550-516: The family, and the idea that marriage should be based on romantic love gained popularity. A clear separation was established between the home and the workplace, which had often not been the case before. The home was seen as a private environment, where housewives provided their husbands with a respite from the troubles of the outside world. Within this ideal, women were expected to focus on domestic matters and to rely on men as breadwinners. Women had limited legal rights in most areas of life, and
8664-414: The first time. Whilst some attempts were made to improve living conditions, slum housing and disease remained a severe problem. The period saw significant scientific and technological development. Britain was advanced in industry and engineering in particular, but somewhat undeveloped in art and education. Great Britain's population increased rapidly, while Ireland's fell sharply. In the strictest sense,
8778-420: The management of sewage and water eventually giving the UK the most advanced system of public health protection anywhere in the world. The quality and safety of household lighting improved over the period with oil lamps becoming the norm in the early 1860s, gas lighting in the 1890s and electric lights beginning to appear in the homes of the richest by the end of the period. Medicine advanced rapidly during
8892-453: The marriage and accompanied the couple to Italy. Mr Barrett disinherited Elizabeth as he did each of his children who married. Elizabeth had foreseen her father's anger but had not anticipated her brothers' rejection. As Elizabeth had some money of her own, the couple were reasonably comfortable in Italy. The Brownings were well respected and even famous. Elizabeth grew stronger, and in 1849, at
9006-442: The medieval period. The area only really developed in the medieval period. Another now deserted, village also grew up at Coxhoe East House, but this was probably deserted by the early 15th century. The modern village of Coxhoe developed during the 18th and 19th centuries, spurred by coal mining, first recorded in 1750. Coxhoe Colliery was sunk in 1827; from 1801 to 1841 the population rose from 117 to 3904. Remains of other elements of
9120-444: The middle of the 19th century to 'diminished cruelty to animals, criminals, lunatics, and children (in that order)'. Legal restrictions were placed on cruelty to animals. Restrictions were placed on the working hours of child labourers in the 1830s and 1840s. Further interventions took place throughout the century to increase the level of child protection. Use of the death penalty also decreased. Crime rates fell significantly in
9234-494: The middle- and working-classes a role in politics. However, all women and a large minority of men remained outside the system into the early 20th century. Cities were given greater political autonomy and the labour movement was legalised. From 1845 to 1852, the Potato Famine caused mass starvation, disease and death in Ireland, sparking large-scale emigration. The Corn Laws were repealed in response to this. Across
9348-735: The most famous courtships in literature. Elizabeth had produced a large amount of work, but Browning had a great influence on her subsequent writing as did she on his: Two of Barrett's most famous pieces were written after she met Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese and Aurora Leigh . Robert's Men and Women is also a product of that time. Some critics state that her activity was, in some ways, in decay before she met Browning: "Until her relationship with Robert Browning began in 1845, Barrett's willingness to engage in public discourse about social issues and about aesthetic issues in poetry, which had been so strong in her youth, gradually diminished, as did her physical health. As an intellectual presence and
9462-617: The other symptoms she described. Barrett Browning's first known poem "On the Cruelty of Forcement to Man" was written at the age of 6 or 8. The manuscript, which protests against impressment , is currently in the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library ; the exact date is controversial because the "2" in the date 1812 is written over something else that is scratched out. Her first independent publication
9576-484: The play to have been the most damaging cause of false myths about Elizabeth, and particularly the relationship with her, allegedly 'tyrannical', father. Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire , the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria , from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed
9690-532: The poet was struck with illness again, with symptoms today suggesting tuberculous ulceration of the lungs. The same year, at her physician's insistence, she moved from London to Torquay on the Devonshire coast. Her former home now forms part of the Regina Hotel. Two tragedies then struck. In February 1840, her brother Samuel died of a fever in Jamaica, then her favourite brother Edward (Bro) was drowned in
9804-514: The population in 1800 to less than a third by 1901. However, 1890s studies suggested that almost 10% of the urban population lived in a state of desperation lacking the food necessary to maintain basic physical functions. Attitudes towards the poor were often unsympathetic and they were frequently blamed for their situation. In that spirit, the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 had been deliberately designed to punish them and would remain
9918-573: The religious aspect in many of her poems, especially in her early work, such as the sonnets. She was interested in theological debate, had learned Hebrew and read the Hebrew Bible. Her seminal Aurora Leigh , for example, features religious imagery and allusion to the apocalypse. The critic Cynthia Scheinberg notes that female characters in Aurora Leigh and her earlier work "The Virgin Mary to
10032-458: The rest of her life. Elizabeth died in Florence in 1861. A collection of her later poems was published by her husband shortly after her death. They had a son, known as "Pen" ( Robert Barrett , 1849–1912). Pen devoted himself to painting until his eyesight began to fail later in life. He also built a large collection of manuscripts and memorabilia of his parents, but because he died intestate, it
10146-465: The same time, she contributed critical prose pieces to Richard Henry Horne 's A New Spirit of the Age , including a laudatory essay on Thomas Carlyle . In 1844, she published the two-volume Poems , which included "A Drama of Exile", "A Vision of Poets", and "Lady Geraldine's Courtship", and two substantial critical essays for 1842 issues of The Athenaeum . A self-proclaimed "adorer of Carlyle", she sent
10260-405: The second half of the 19th century. Sociologist Christie Davies linked this change to attempts to morally educate the population, especially at Sunday schools . Contrary to popular belief, Victorian society understood that both men and women enjoyed copulation . Chastity was expected of women, whilst attitudes to male sexual behaviour were more relaxed. The development of police forces led to
10374-717: The site belonged to the Blakiston Family from c.1400 to 1600, and afterwards to the Kennets and the Earls of Seaforth. John Burdon, responsible for rebuilding the house, also created the landscape gardens at Hardwick Hall , near Sedgefield . The house was bought by the East Hetton Colliery Company in 1938 and was used to house Italian and German prisoners-of-war in WW2. The hall was condemned as unsafe by
10488-777: The social rituals of her family. In 1809, the family moved to Hope End , a 500-acre (200 ha) estate near the Malvern Hills in Ledbury , Herefordshire. Her father converted the Georgian house into stables and built a mansion of opulent Turkish design, which his wife described as something from the Arabian Nights' Entertainments . The interior's brass balustrades, mahogany doors inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and finely carved fireplaces were eventually complemented by lavish landscaping: ponds, grottos, kiosks, an ice house,
10602-402: The spread of diseases and squalid living conditions in many places exacerbated the problem. The population of England, Scotland and Wales grew rapidly during the 19th century. Various factors are considered contributary to this, including a rising fertility rate (though it was falling by the end of the period), the lack of a catastrophic pandemic or famine in the island of Great Britain during
10716-496: The use from an early age may well have contributed to her frail health. Biographers such as Alethea Hayter have suggested this dependency have contributed to the wild vividness of her imagination and the poetry that it produced. By 1821, she had read Mary Wollstonecraft 's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), and she become a passionate supporter of Wollstonecraft's political ideas. The child's intellectual fascination with
10830-402: The war effort, and the evangelical movement's push for moral improvement. There is evidence that the expected standards of moral behaviour were reflected in action as well as rhetoric across all classes of society. For instance, an analysis suggested that less than 5% of working class couples cohabited before marriage. Historian Harold Perkin argued that the change in moral standards led by
10944-532: Was A Musical Instrument , published posthumously. Barrett Browning's sister Henrietta died in November 1860. The couple spent the winter of 1860–1861 in Rome where Barrett Browning's health deteriorated, and they returned to Florence in early June 1861. She became gradually weaker, using morphine to ease her pain. She died on 29 June 1861 in her husband's arms. Browning said that she died "smilingly, happily, and with
11058-723: Was "Stanzas Excited by Reflections on the Present State of Greece" in The New Monthly Magazine of May 1821; followed two months later by "Thoughts Awakened by Contemplating a Piece of the Palm which Grows on the Summit of the Acropolis at Athens". Her first collection of poems, An Essay on Mind, with Other Poems, was published in 1826 and reflected her passion for Byron and Greek politics . Its publication drew
11172-702: Was John Kenyon, a wealthy friend and distant cousin of the family and patron of the arts. She received comfort from a spaniel named Flush, a gift from Mary Mitford. ( Virginia Woolf later fictionalised the life of the dog, making him the protagonist of her 1933 novel Flush: A Biography ). From 1841 to 1844, Elizabeth was prolific in poetry, translation, and prose. The poem The Cry of the Children , published in 1843 in Blackwood's , condemned child labour and helped bring about child-labour reforms by raising support for Lord Shaftesbury 's Ten Hours Bill (1844). About
11286-470: Was advanced by her stands against social injustice, including slavery in the United States , injustice toward Italians from their foreign rulers, and child labour. Lilian Whiting published a biography of Barrett Browning (1899) which describes her as "the most philosophical poet" and depicts her life as "a Gospel of applied Christianity". To Whiting, the term "art for art's sake" did not apply to Barrett Browning's work, as each poem, distinctively purposeful,
11400-422: Was an intensely studious, precocious child. She claimed that she was reading novels at age 6, having been entranced by Pope 's translations of Homer at age 8, studying Greek at age 10, and writing her own Homeric epic The Battle of Marathon: A Poem at age 11. In 1820, Mr Barrett privately published The Battle of Marathon , an epic-style poem, but all copies remained within the family. Her mother compiled
11514-568: Was born on (it is supposed) 6 March 1806 in Coxhoe Hall, between the villages of Coxhoe and Kelloe in County Durham, England. Her parents were Edward Barrett Moulton-Barrett and Mary Graham Clarke. However, biographers have suggested that, when she was christened on 9 March, she was already three or four months old, and that this was concealed because her parents had married only on 14 May 1805. Although she had already been baptised by
11628-400: Was borne of a more "honest vision". In this critical analysis, Whiting portrays Barrett Browning as a poet who uses knowledge of Classical literature with an "intuitive gift of spiritual divination". In Elizabeth Barrett Browning , Angela Leighton suggests that the portrayal of Barrett Browning as the "pious iconography of womanhood" has distracted us from her poetic achievements. Leighton cites
11742-534: Was expanded again by the Second Reform Act in 1867. The Third Reform Act in 1884 introduced a general principle of one vote per household. All these acts and others simplified the electoral system and reduced corruption. Historian Bruce L Kinzer describes these reforms as putting the United Kingdom on the path towards becoming a democracy. The traditional aristocratic ruling class attempted to maintain as much influence as possible while gradually allowing
11856-485: Was generally then known as natural philosophy, but it took a while to catch on. Having been previously dominated by amateurs with a separate income, the Royal Society admitted only professionals from 1847 onwards. The British biologist Thomas Henry Huxley indicated in 1852 that it remained difficult to earn a living as a scientist alone. Scientific knowledge and debates such as that about Charles Darwin 's On
11970-448: Was given to social reform. Utilitarianism was another philosophy that saw itself as based on science rather than on morality, but also emphasised social progress. An alliance formed between these two ideological strands. The reformers emphasised causes such as improving the conditions of women and children, giving police reform priority over harsh punishment to prevent crime, religious equality, and political reform in order to establish
12084-473: Was in contemporaneous usage to describe the era. The era can also be understood in a more extensive sense—the 'long Victorian era'—as a period that possessed sensibilities and characteristics distinct from the periods adjacent to it, in which case it is sometimes dated to begin before Victoria's accession—typically from the passage of or agitation for (during the 1830s) the Reform Act 1832 , which introduced
12198-422: Was invariably the greater attraction. The couple came to know a wide circle of artists and writers, including William Makepeace Thackeray , sculptor Harriet Hosmer (who, she wrote, seemed to be the "perfectly emancipated female") and Harriet Beecher Stowe . In 1849, she met Margaret Fuller ; Carlyle in 1851; French novelist George Sand in 1852, whom she had long admired. Among her intimate friends in Florence
12312-401: Was low, punishments severe, work was dangerous and disrupted children's development (often leaving them too tired to play even in their free time). Early labour could do lifelong harm; even in the 1960s and '70s, the elderly people of industrial towns were noted for their often unusually short stature, deformed physiques, and diseases associated with unhealthy working conditions. Reformers wanted
12426-491: Was not impressed by its style. It was used as a public library from 1938 to 2021, when new library facilities were provided for the town, and is now the headquarters of the Ledbury Poetry Festival . It has been Grade II-listed since 2007. 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
12540-648: Was sold by public auction to various bidders and then scattered upon his death. The Armstrong Browning Library has recovered some of his collection, and it now houses the world's largest collection of Browning memorabilia. Elizabeth's work had a major influence on prominent writers of the day, including the American poets Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson . She is remembered for such poems as " How Do I Love Thee? " (Sonnet 43, 1845) and Aurora Leigh (1856). Elizabeth Barrett had both maternal and paternal family who profited from slavery. Her father's family had lived in
12654-468: Was the predominant power in the world. Victorian society valued a high standard of personal conduct across all sections of society. The emphasis on morality gave impetus to social reform but also placed restrictions on certain groups' liberty. Prosperity rose during the period, but debilitating undernutrition persisted. Literacy and childhood education became near universal in Great Britain for
12768-459: Was the writer Isa Blagden , whom she encouraged to write novels. They met Alfred Tennyson in Paris, and John Forster , Samuel Rogers and the Carlyles in London, later befriending Charles Kingsley and John Ruskin . After the death of an old friend, G. B. Hunter, and then of her father, Barrett Browning's health started to deteriorate. The Brownings moved from Florence to Siena, residing at
12882-521: Was then sent around the village by a system of pipes. Most other coal was transported out of Coxhoe by the Clarence Railway. Coxhoe Hall was a five-bay, 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -story house of c. 1725, built for John Burdon, on the site of a Tudor house. This plain, classical residence was later given a Gothic trim, with battlements and pointed windows. Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning spent her early childhood there. The earlier medieval house on
12996-432: Was well developed, education and the arts were mediocre. Wage rates continued to improve in the later 19th century: real wages (after taking inflation into account) were 65 per cent higher in 1901 compared to 1871. Much of the money was saved, as the number of depositors in savings banks rose from 430,000 in 1831 to 5.2 million in 1887, and their deposits from £14 million to over £90 million. Children had always played
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