How Do I Love Thee: The Story Of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

by Helen Elmira Waite

""How Do I Love The Story Of Elizabeth Barrett Browning"" by Helen Elmira Waite is a biography of the famous poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The book chronicles the life of Barrett Browning, from her childhood in England to her rise as one of the most well-known poets of the Victorian era. The author delves into the poet's personal life, including her struggles with illness and her relationship with her father, as well as her literary accomplishments and the inspiration behind some of her most famous works, such as ""Sonnets from the Portuguese."" The book also explores Barrett Browning's marriage to fellow poet Robert Browning and their life together in Italy. Through extensive research and analysis of Barrett Browning's letters and other writings, Waite paints a vivid portrait of this remarkable woman and her enduring legacy as a poet and cultural icon.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 2007

Reviews

[Carol]

This was an easy, enjoyable read. It was published in 1953 and was catalogued as a biography. But it is really Historical Fiction (maybe didn't exist at that time?) which was indicated by the dialogue and the thoughts of main characters. It is a beautiful love story of this sickly, young lady Elizabeth Barrett (her nickname in the family -- "Ba", the oldest of her 11 siblings) who lived with a delicate health, she was literally an invalid. She lived in a bedroom upstairs unable to come down unless one of her brothers carried her down. Her appetite lacked and she also suffered from fainting spells. She had a dear servant (Wilson) who took care of her. Elizabeth began a letter correspondence with the handsome poet Robert Browning (6 yrs younger than her) which turned into weekly visits. Her doctors tried to convince her father to send her away to Pisa in the winter to avoid the disgusting, smokey winters in England (Industrial Revolution). She pleaded with her father, who always called her his favorite because of her published poetry, and he refused.

Robert and Elizabeth decided to privately marry on Saturday, Sept. 12, 1846 and days later elope to Italy. They were extremely in love, deeply content in their new lives, thrilled that they were able to have a son (Pen) and to live out their dreams.In the end, Elizabeth sees a doctor, diagnosis her with an ulcer. That night her sleep was restless, and she woke. Robert said, "Dearest Ba, how do you feel?" Ba's gallant spirit let her lips curve into a final smile. "Beautiful!" she said. And then Ba was gone. "God took her to Himself," Robert said later, "as you would life a child from a dark, uneasy bed into the light."

I loved that the author included some of their original letters. And I found the abduction of her dog, Flush, strange. The fact that in London, at that time, pets would be abducted and required owners to pay a fee in order to get back their pet.

[Niina]

This was very enjoyable to read. I did not expect to like this as much as I do. I expecting it to be boring, but I actually found myself reading it very quickly. I know all of the things in this book aren't historically accurate, but it was interesting to find out more about Elizabeth Barrett Browning's life (I pretty much knew nothing about her prior to reading this). All in all, a very nice and quick read. Would recommend.

[Cheyanne Davison]

This is the most beautiful love story and what makes it even more beautiful is that it is true. A sweet, gentle, mature love built on friendship. Understanding each other and helping each other to grow. It was beautiful. I am going to go read both their poetry now

[Amanda Walz]

I enjoyed reading this book. I found it in a library where it was placed in the biography section. This book is not a biography but historical fiction. Not everything in the book is true and there is a lot of imaging on how things play out.

The only thing I didn't care for was the ending. I thought it abrupt. All in all, looking at it as fiction it did what good historical fiction does. It made me look up Elizabeth Barrett Browning and read a couple of biographies about her, and one about Robert Browning. I had fun comparing and contracting the historical fiction to the biography.

[Elizabeth Gibbs]

I fell in love with this book, but at the end it talks about Elizabeth Barrett Browning's belief in spiritualism and seances. I can't change someone's life, but I would have kept this book if it hadn't been for that! It was a delightful story about Elizabeth meeting with Robert Browning and their romance while she was stuck at home as an invalid, and later how they married. (Elizabeth and Robert are famous poets.) I was truly disappointed at the turn it took with the spiritualism.

[Blythe]

Wow.