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Wuthering Heights and Poems
Published in 1847 and initially considered excessively morbid and brutal, Wuthering Heights has a combination of violent Romantic vision and brutally controlled structure which has ripened immensely in recent years. Emily Bront's passionate and visionary lyrics are among the finest poems by a woman in English; more than sixty of them are included here.
416 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1983
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313 people want to read
About the author
Emily Brontë
1,504 books13.3k followersEmily Brontë was an English novelist and poet whose singular contribution to literature, Wuthering Heights, is now celebrated as one of the most powerful and original novels in the English language. Born into the remarkable Brontë family on 30 July 1818 in Thornton, Yorkshire, she was the fifth of six children of Maria Branwell and Patrick Brontë, an Irish clergyman. Her early life was marked by both intellectual curiosity and profound loss. After the death of her mother in 1821 and the subsequent deaths of her two eldest sisters in 1825, Emily and her surviving siblings— Charlotte, Anne, and Branwell—were raised in relative seclusion in the moorland village of Haworth, where their imaginations flourished in a household shaped by books, storytelling, and emotional intensity.
The Brontë children created elaborate fictional worlds, notably Angria and later Gondal, which served as an outlet for their creative energies. Emily, in particular, gravitated toward Gondal, a mysterious, windswept imaginary land she developed with her sister Anne. Her early poetry, much of it steeped in the mythology and characters of Gondal, demonstrated a remarkable lyrical force and emotional depth. These poems remained private until discovered by Charlotte in 1845, after which Emily reluctantly agreed to publish them in the 1846 collection Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, using the pseudonym Ellis Bell to conceal her gender. Though the volume sold few copies, critics identified Emily’s poems as the strongest in the collection, lauding her for their music, power, and visionary quality.
Emily was intensely private and reclusive by nature. She briefly attended schools in Cowan Bridge and Roe Head but was plagued by homesickness and preferred the solitude of the Yorkshire moors, which inspired much of her work. She worked briefly as a teacher but found the demands of the profession exhausting. She also studied in Brussels with Charlotte in 1842, but again found herself alienated and yearning for home. Throughout her life, Emily remained closely bonded with her siblings, particularly Anne, and with the landscape of Haworth, where she drew on the raw, untamed beauty of the moors for both her poetry and her fiction.
Her only novel, Wuthering Heights, was published in 1847, a year after the poetry collection, under her pseudonym Ellis Bell. Initially met with a mixture of admiration and shock, the novel’s structure, emotional intensity, and portrayal of violent passion and moral ambiguity stood in stark contrast to the conventions of Victorian fiction. Many readers, unable to reconcile its power with the expected gentility of a woman writer, assumed it had been written by a man. The novel tells the story of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw—two characters driven by obsessive love, cruelty, and vengeance—and explores themes of nature, the supernatural, and the destructive power of unresolved emotion. Though controversial at the time, Wuthering Heights is now considered a landmark in English literature, acclaimed for its originality, psychological insight, and poetic vision.
Emily's personality has been the subject of much speculation, shaped in part by her sister Charlotte’s later writings and by Victorian biographies that often sought to romanticize or domesticate her character. While some accounts depict her as intensely shy and austere, others highlight her fierce independence, deep empathy with animals, and profound inner life. She is remembered as a solitary figure, closely attuned to the rhythms of the natural world, with a quiet but formidable intellect and a passion for truth and freedom. Her dog, Keeper, was a constant companion and, according to many, a window into her capacity for fierce, loyal love.
Emily Brontë died of tuberculosis on 19 December 1848 at the age of thirty, just a year after the publication of her novel. Her early death, following those of her brother Branwell and soon to
The Brontë children created elaborate fictional worlds, notably Angria and later Gondal, which served as an outlet for their creative energies. Emily, in particular, gravitated toward Gondal, a mysterious, windswept imaginary land she developed with her sister Anne. Her early poetry, much of it steeped in the mythology and characters of Gondal, demonstrated a remarkable lyrical force and emotional depth. These poems remained private until discovered by Charlotte in 1845, after which Emily reluctantly agreed to publish them in the 1846 collection Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, using the pseudonym Ellis Bell to conceal her gender. Though the volume sold few copies, critics identified Emily’s poems as the strongest in the collection, lauding her for their music, power, and visionary quality.
Emily was intensely private and reclusive by nature. She briefly attended schools in Cowan Bridge and Roe Head but was plagued by homesickness and preferred the solitude of the Yorkshire moors, which inspired much of her work. She worked briefly as a teacher but found the demands of the profession exhausting. She also studied in Brussels with Charlotte in 1842, but again found herself alienated and yearning for home. Throughout her life, Emily remained closely bonded with her siblings, particularly Anne, and with the landscape of Haworth, where she drew on the raw, untamed beauty of the moors for both her poetry and her fiction.
Her only novel, Wuthering Heights, was published in 1847, a year after the poetry collection, under her pseudonym Ellis Bell. Initially met with a mixture of admiration and shock, the novel’s structure, emotional intensity, and portrayal of violent passion and moral ambiguity stood in stark contrast to the conventions of Victorian fiction. Many readers, unable to reconcile its power with the expected gentility of a woman writer, assumed it had been written by a man. The novel tells the story of Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw—two characters driven by obsessive love, cruelty, and vengeance—and explores themes of nature, the supernatural, and the destructive power of unresolved emotion. Though controversial at the time, Wuthering Heights is now considered a landmark in English literature, acclaimed for its originality, psychological insight, and poetic vision.
Emily's personality has been the subject of much speculation, shaped in part by her sister Charlotte’s later writings and by Victorian biographies that often sought to romanticize or domesticate her character. While some accounts depict her as intensely shy and austere, others highlight her fierce independence, deep empathy with animals, and profound inner life. She is remembered as a solitary figure, closely attuned to the rhythms of the natural world, with a quiet but formidable intellect and a passion for truth and freedom. Her dog, Keeper, was a constant companion and, according to many, a window into her capacity for fierce, loyal love.
Emily Brontë died of tuberculosis on 19 December 1848 at the age of thirty, just a year after the publication of her novel. Her early death, following those of her brother Branwell and soon to
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April 23, 2020
The first time I read this novel I was 15. The flavour of each word in this book is such that some scenes stayed with me (and haunted me) for years to come. Here I am now, 6 years later, reading it again.
My diagnosis of the novel hasn't changed: this is a story of how people are capable of making each other miserable.
I have seen many abandon this book for how bittersweet it gets, as you turn each page. I cannot blame them, this is not an easy read. This is light-years away far from the Jane Austen constellation, and it doesn't attempt to follow the same route. This novel is raw, vivid, uncomfortable.
But this is also where the beauty lies: it's raw, yet hope sprouts at each turn whether you want it or not; it's vivid in the depiction of its gory and violent scenes, yet it retains the same vividness in the love professed by Catherine towards Heathcliff, or by Linton towards Catherine, his daughter and the apple of his eye.
One may argue that this is a novel in which violence is screamed from the mountain tops, while bliss is whispered quietly. I believe this says a lot about human nature and, more specifically, about a part of it that is rarely acknowledged: the unredeemed, the unforgiving and unforgivable, embodied by Heathcliff.
Although my diagnosis is mostly the same, my verdict has changed: this is a novel about human nature, touching upon its most uncomfortable and unacceptable spots. Yet, it's not a story devoid of happy endings, of hope, of characters evolving and, ultimately, of multifaceted representations of love; brotherly love, unhealthy love, fatherly love, unexpected, unrequited, menaced love.
This is a novel, like few others, with a soul of its own.
My diagnosis of the novel hasn't changed: this is a story of how people are capable of making each other miserable.
I have seen many abandon this book for how bittersweet it gets, as you turn each page. I cannot blame them, this is not an easy read. This is light-years away far from the Jane Austen constellation, and it doesn't attempt to follow the same route. This novel is raw, vivid, uncomfortable.
But this is also where the beauty lies: it's raw, yet hope sprouts at each turn whether you want it or not; it's vivid in the depiction of its gory and violent scenes, yet it retains the same vividness in the love professed by Catherine towards Heathcliff, or by Linton towards Catherine, his daughter and the apple of his eye.
One may argue that this is a novel in which violence is screamed from the mountain tops, while bliss is whispered quietly. I believe this says a lot about human nature and, more specifically, about a part of it that is rarely acknowledged: the unredeemed, the unforgiving and unforgivable, embodied by Heathcliff.
Although my diagnosis is mostly the same, my verdict has changed: this is a novel about human nature, touching upon its most uncomfortable and unacceptable spots. Yet, it's not a story devoid of happy endings, of hope, of characters evolving and, ultimately, of multifaceted representations of love; brotherly love, unhealthy love, fatherly love, unexpected, unrequited, menaced love.
This is a novel, like few others, with a soul of its own.
Read
August 28, 2012This is the 'Everyman' edition. Earlier editions of this series bore the quote "Everyman, I will go with thee and be thy guide; in thy most need be by thy side.' These editions were meant to be cheap, durable, and portable. This particular copy is ok, though a bit edge-worn.
The 'selected poems' are far from complete: not surprising, because the primary editor despises them. There are some of the best, but not all, and mostly indexed by first line, unless Ellis Bell had added a title of her own.
The Introduction is by the editor, Margaret Drabble. The Poems are edited by Philip Henderson, which is probably for the best, since Drabble had no liking for them, and would have made no reasonable selection.
This edition also contains a bibliography, Charlotte's Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell and her Editor's Preface to The Second Edition, an index of first lines (a little redundant, in many ways, though useful in the case of poems labeled cryptically 'Julian M to AG Rochelle' or such. But as the first line is also included in the Table of Contents, it's still not really necessary to have an index of first lines.
The bibliography is not really useful in finding sources. One notable example is a citation for CP Sanger's 'The Structure of Wuthering Heights'. As a monograph, there were, last I heard, only two known copies of this extant, although I may know the location of a third, if it's a first edition.
In this particular copy, there's a penciled note on the first page: "1818 + 29 = 1847". I don't know why the annotator thought this calculation necessary, but it is accurate. Ellis Bell died in 1848, but as it was before her birthday, she was still only 29.
It's only on rereading that one realizes the true complexity of this book beneath its spare prose. From the first definition of 'wuthering', through Lockwood's dream of an ordeal of listening to FOUR HUNDRED AND NINETY full-length sermons by the Rev Jabes Branderham (people don't realize how much humor Ellis Bell put into her works. This supposed sermon refers to Jesus' command that we forgive our neighbors' sins 'even unto seventy times seven'. By which he meant, essentially, forever. But people often take it too literally), all the way through to the hypocritical Joseph (whom Nelly Dean describes as a 'self-righteous Pharisee, [who] ever ransacked the Bible to rake the blessings to himself and fling the curses at his neighbors') recognizing Lockwood as an honest man by the ring of a sovereign at his feet, the story has depth and detail. It's clearly set in a place, and with times so nicely figured that Sanger, starting with the opening word ('1801'). was able to calculate dates precisely, and even worked out the legal niceties that left Cathy Linton and Hareton Earnshaw heirs to all that Heathcliff had expropriated.
And there are many details that, as Catherine Earnshaw says of some dreams, that 'go through (one's) dreams like wine through water, changing its color'. Cathy Linton's and Linton Heathcliff's description of their particular heavens, for example. Or the description of Heathcliff, waiting for news of Catherine Earnshaw's death, and how he responded to Nelly's description of that death.
This particular edition has a drawing of Wuthering Heights and the surrounding moor on the cover, and has all of Joseph's dialog (monologues, really, mostly) restored to the original broad Yorkshire dialect.
All in all, a book that repays rereading, and more than once, for most people.
One thing I noticed in this reading, that I hadn't realized before. If it seems that many of the characters in Wuthering Heights are childish in thought and behavior, this is in many cases because they are LITERALLY children. Catherine Earnshaw is only 19 when she dies, and has been married for two years by that time. Hindley Earnshaw is only 27 at his death. Linton Heathcliff dies before he even makes 18. It's pretty clear based on his lifelong poor health that his marriage to Catherine Linton was never consummated.
Even Isabella Linton couldn't have been much over the age of 17 when she eloped with Heathcliff, and gave birth probably before she was legally of age.
It's always puzzled me why Hareton Earnshaw was not taken away from his obviously unfit father after the death of his mother. Why didn't his aunt persuade her magistrate husband to sue for custody after Heathcliff left? Hindley probably wouldn't have resisted much, and Hareton would have been better off if he'd been raised with his aunt and uncle. After Hindley dies, there's an attempt to do this, but Heathcliff is able to thwart it, because he essentially has a counter-hostage in his own son. But if it had been done before Heathcliff returned, Heathcliff would have been hard-pressed to challenge custody already legally established.
I can see, also, why at least one of the critics has argued that Nelly Dean is the deepest-dyed villain of the whole story. She represents her behavior as reasonable and sane, but in fact, she's too often quite cruel in both her behavior and her attitudes toward people. She abandons her foster-brother Hindley to his own addictions (including, but not limited to, alcohol and gambling). She allows people to be subjected to extreme cruelty, and argues partially in favor of the abusers, too often.
She is given the title 'Mrs Dean' throughout the story, but this seems to be a courtesy title. There's no evidence she was ever married.
I think that it's a bit extreme to consider her a villain throughout, but I should point out that it's worth questioning her biases. Heathcliff she describes as bad-natured almost from the beginning. But if Lockwood had paid attention to his own experiences, what would he have found? Heathcliff may be acting when he plays the part of a genial landlord: but if so, he's doing a good job. And his relationships with people he doesn't feel he has a just quarrel with range from courteous indifference to actual friendliness.
Indeed, if anybody had ever put the case to him that he would be much better revenged against those who had hurt him by winning the love of their children, and by raising them better than he himself was raised, he might have heeded the advice. He undoubtedly found it wearisome to be constantly nursing hatreds for people he really didn't know at all. By the end, he can't spare a thought for them: his obsessiveness overcomes any social consideration, and he can't spare them any attention whatever. But even then, he conducts routine business normally, even when he's so wraith-ridden that he can't eat or sleep.
As for the poems, they do include some of the best: and some that Ellis Bell herself didn't think worth publishing. I thought at first that they did not include "No Coward Soul Is Mine", because it's tucked in right at the end. But it is there. And as at least one of the reviewers has pointed out that this is one of the few poems in the English language having a line containing five verbs: 'changes, sustains, dissolves, creates and rears.'
It's not clear where the dates appended to the poems come from. Some of the poems were dated in the original notebooks, but in many cases it's not clear whether this was a composition date or a transcription date.
Hatfield argues that at least one of the poems included in the present volume (the one with the first line "Often rebuked, yet always back returning") may in fact have written by Charlotte. He found manuscripts of most of the poems (and he often questioned standard readings, because he actually examined the manuscripts and was able to resolve some of the issues caused by the poor editing of the publishers, who often ignored the corrections the Brontes sent them). But he was not able to find a manuscript for the disputed poem, and he argued that this was because it was not written by Ellis Bell, but by Charlotte.
One poem I wish had been included in this volume ends with a verse which I think would be a fitting obituary for those who didn't make it to the end of the book:
If thou hast sinned in this world of care
'Twas but the dust of thy drear abode--
Thy soul was pure when it entered here
And pure it will go again to God.
The 'selected poems' are far from complete: not surprising, because the primary editor despises them. There are some of the best, but not all, and mostly indexed by first line, unless Ellis Bell had added a title of her own.
The Introduction is by the editor, Margaret Drabble. The Poems are edited by Philip Henderson, which is probably for the best, since Drabble had no liking for them, and would have made no reasonable selection.
This edition also contains a bibliography, Charlotte's Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell and her Editor's Preface to The Second Edition, an index of first lines (a little redundant, in many ways, though useful in the case of poems labeled cryptically 'Julian M to AG Rochelle' or such. But as the first line is also included in the Table of Contents, it's still not really necessary to have an index of first lines.
The bibliography is not really useful in finding sources. One notable example is a citation for CP Sanger's 'The Structure of Wuthering Heights'. As a monograph, there were, last I heard, only two known copies of this extant, although I may know the location of a third, if it's a first edition.
In this particular copy, there's a penciled note on the first page: "1818 + 29 = 1847". I don't know why the annotator thought this calculation necessary, but it is accurate. Ellis Bell died in 1848, but as it was before her birthday, she was still only 29.
It's only on rereading that one realizes the true complexity of this book beneath its spare prose. From the first definition of 'wuthering', through Lockwood's dream of an ordeal of listening to FOUR HUNDRED AND NINETY full-length sermons by the Rev Jabes Branderham (people don't realize how much humor Ellis Bell put into her works. This supposed sermon refers to Jesus' command that we forgive our neighbors' sins 'even unto seventy times seven'. By which he meant, essentially, forever. But people often take it too literally), all the way through to the hypocritical Joseph (whom Nelly Dean describes as a 'self-righteous Pharisee, [who] ever ransacked the Bible to rake the blessings to himself and fling the curses at his neighbors') recognizing Lockwood as an honest man by the ring of a sovereign at his feet, the story has depth and detail. It's clearly set in a place, and with times so nicely figured that Sanger, starting with the opening word ('1801'). was able to calculate dates precisely, and even worked out the legal niceties that left Cathy Linton and Hareton Earnshaw heirs to all that Heathcliff had expropriated.
And there are many details that, as Catherine Earnshaw says of some dreams, that 'go through (one's) dreams like wine through water, changing its color'. Cathy Linton's and Linton Heathcliff's description of their particular heavens, for example. Or the description of Heathcliff, waiting for news of Catherine Earnshaw's death, and how he responded to Nelly's description of that death.
This particular edition has a drawing of Wuthering Heights and the surrounding moor on the cover, and has all of Joseph's dialog (monologues, really, mostly) restored to the original broad Yorkshire dialect.
All in all, a book that repays rereading, and more than once, for most people.
One thing I noticed in this reading, that I hadn't realized before. If it seems that many of the characters in Wuthering Heights are childish in thought and behavior, this is in many cases because they are LITERALLY children. Catherine Earnshaw is only 19 when she dies, and has been married for two years by that time. Hindley Earnshaw is only 27 at his death. Linton Heathcliff dies before he even makes 18. It's pretty clear based on his lifelong poor health that his marriage to Catherine Linton was never consummated.
Even Isabella Linton couldn't have been much over the age of 17 when she eloped with Heathcliff, and gave birth probably before she was legally of age.
It's always puzzled me why Hareton Earnshaw was not taken away from his obviously unfit father after the death of his mother. Why didn't his aunt persuade her magistrate husband to sue for custody after Heathcliff left? Hindley probably wouldn't have resisted much, and Hareton would have been better off if he'd been raised with his aunt and uncle. After Hindley dies, there's an attempt to do this, but Heathcliff is able to thwart it, because he essentially has a counter-hostage in his own son. But if it had been done before Heathcliff returned, Heathcliff would have been hard-pressed to challenge custody already legally established.
I can see, also, why at least one of the critics has argued that Nelly Dean is the deepest-dyed villain of the whole story. She represents her behavior as reasonable and sane, but in fact, she's too often quite cruel in both her behavior and her attitudes toward people. She abandons her foster-brother Hindley to his own addictions (including, but not limited to, alcohol and gambling). She allows people to be subjected to extreme cruelty, and argues partially in favor of the abusers, too often.
She is given the title 'Mrs Dean' throughout the story, but this seems to be a courtesy title. There's no evidence she was ever married.
I think that it's a bit extreme to consider her a villain throughout, but I should point out that it's worth questioning her biases. Heathcliff she describes as bad-natured almost from the beginning. But if Lockwood had paid attention to his own experiences, what would he have found? Heathcliff may be acting when he plays the part of a genial landlord: but if so, he's doing a good job. And his relationships with people he doesn't feel he has a just quarrel with range from courteous indifference to actual friendliness.
Indeed, if anybody had ever put the case to him that he would be much better revenged against those who had hurt him by winning the love of their children, and by raising them better than he himself was raised, he might have heeded the advice. He undoubtedly found it wearisome to be constantly nursing hatreds for people he really didn't know at all. By the end, he can't spare a thought for them: his obsessiveness overcomes any social consideration, and he can't spare them any attention whatever. But even then, he conducts routine business normally, even when he's so wraith-ridden that he can't eat or sleep.
As for the poems, they do include some of the best: and some that Ellis Bell herself didn't think worth publishing. I thought at first that they did not include "No Coward Soul Is Mine", because it's tucked in right at the end. But it is there. And as at least one of the reviewers has pointed out that this is one of the few poems in the English language having a line containing five verbs: 'changes, sustains, dissolves, creates and rears.'
It's not clear where the dates appended to the poems come from. Some of the poems were dated in the original notebooks, but in many cases it's not clear whether this was a composition date or a transcription date.
Hatfield argues that at least one of the poems included in the present volume (the one with the first line "Often rebuked, yet always back returning") may in fact have written by Charlotte. He found manuscripts of most of the poems (and he often questioned standard readings, because he actually examined the manuscripts and was able to resolve some of the issues caused by the poor editing of the publishers, who often ignored the corrections the Brontes sent them). But he was not able to find a manuscript for the disputed poem, and he argued that this was because it was not written by Ellis Bell, but by Charlotte.
One poem I wish had been included in this volume ends with a verse which I think would be a fitting obituary for those who didn't make it to the end of the book:
If thou hast sinned in this world of care
'Twas but the dust of thy drear abode--
Thy soul was pure when it entered here
And pure it will go again to God.
March 21, 2024
I never thought I would enjoy a book that made me feel anger all the time this much, but life is truly full of surprises as this has become another of my favorite classics. Also to hell with Heathcliff everybody HATES Heathcliff.
September 7, 2018
Any review I write or this cannot express just how much I love this book. I first read this story (without the poems) when I was 18, and pretty much had no idea what to expect and thought it was just going to be like any other little Victorian novel, or what I thought they were like as I'd read next to nothing and basically watched a few bbc dramas. My god, I was so wrong. I found it quite difficult to get into, at first, especially the first bit with Mr Lockwood as I could not comprehend that the author was trying to tell this story through Nelly and it threw me off?? I also struggled a lot with the style of writing, as I said, I wasn't experienced with these sorts of books. Yet this did change, and I distinctly remember sitting in the Paris airport, waiting for my plane after my birthday, and I just could not put this book down. I remember the part i was reading so well, and it was the bit where I remember being so like
?????? omg??????? and I couldn't stop reading at all. After that, I pretty much became obsessed with the story and the characters, and it's p much the only book I can reread, (aside from the HP series durh lol) and enjoy despite knowing what's going to happen.
I really don't know what makes this book so different for me, but I finally decided to let myself reread it again for the zillionth time. I think I just love how awful everyone is, it's so human but not??? I also appreciate Heathcliffe's nasty plans for revenge, which basically just went over my head when I was younger and I thought he was just basically a nasty man- I mean he is, but there's more to him. I also, looking back, realise that Cathy was exactly the same, and I used to be so sad when because I thought she nicer. but nope. everyone is nasty in some way, that's just people. Obviously, some people are less nasty than others, such as with Nelly and Hareton, but everyone just has that side to them, and it gives the characters in this book such a depth that makes them real, that I honestly think a lot of literature now struggles with. You can imagine these people to be real, and that's absolutely horrifying because they definitely did, and do, exist in some form or other. It was certainly horrifying to the Victorian public who did not want to know this or acknowledge it in book form. This book continues to be so different from any book I've ever read, and probably will ever read. I just love and hate everyone so much hahaha. I think it ends so well, and everything is tied up and dealt with, maybe not how you originally want it to be, but it's tied up nonetheless. I also love the setting of this book, as it's really close to home, and Emily Bronte just recreates the scenery perfectly and sets the scene so well, you can just imagine everything so easily, without being told every detail as other authors do (Looking at u J. R. R. Tolkien, soz). Honestly, I just think that I really can't do justice to why this book is so amazing to me, or at least I find it pretty difficult to express it in review form, and I'll probably just be thinking about it for days instead of failing here. Or maybe I'll do a better, more throughout review in the future?? Idk, we'll see.
I read the poetry that's included in this book, and honestly, I just do not understand poetry at the minute, so feel like I don't really appreciate the poems included. However, I am making more of an effort to understand the subject, so I'll definitely be coming back to reread these particular poems in the future when I undoubtedly reread Wuthering Heights.
?????? omg??????? and I couldn't stop reading at all. After that, I pretty much became obsessed with the story and the characters, and it's p much the only book I can reread, (aside from the HP series durh lol) and enjoy despite knowing what's going to happen.
I really don't know what makes this book so different for me, but I finally decided to let myself reread it again for the zillionth time. I think I just love how awful everyone is, it's so human but not??? I also appreciate Heathcliffe's nasty plans for revenge, which basically just went over my head when I was younger and I thought he was just basically a nasty man- I mean he is, but there's more to him. I also, looking back, realise that Cathy was exactly the same, and I used to be so sad when because I thought she nicer. but nope. everyone is nasty in some way, that's just people. Obviously, some people are less nasty than others, such as with Nelly and Hareton, but everyone just has that side to them, and it gives the characters in this book such a depth that makes them real, that I honestly think a lot of literature now struggles with. You can imagine these people to be real, and that's absolutely horrifying because they definitely did, and do, exist in some form or other. It was certainly horrifying to the Victorian public who did not want to know this or acknowledge it in book form. This book continues to be so different from any book I've ever read, and probably will ever read. I just love and hate everyone so much hahaha. I think it ends so well, and everything is tied up and dealt with, maybe not how you originally want it to be, but it's tied up nonetheless. I also love the setting of this book, as it's really close to home, and Emily Bronte just recreates the scenery perfectly and sets the scene so well, you can just imagine everything so easily, without being told every detail as other authors do (Looking at u J. R. R. Tolkien, soz). Honestly, I just think that I really can't do justice to why this book is so amazing to me, or at least I find it pretty difficult to express it in review form, and I'll probably just be thinking about it for days instead of failing here. Or maybe I'll do a better, more throughout review in the future?? Idk, we'll see.
I read the poetry that's included in this book, and honestly, I just do not understand poetry at the minute, so feel like I don't really appreciate the poems included. However, I am making more of an effort to understand the subject, so I'll definitely be coming back to reread these particular poems in the future when I undoubtedly reread Wuthering Heights.
February 27, 2011
Bronte fans may snort in my general direction for asking this, but will someone please clue me in about what I'm missing in Wuthering Heights? I kept reading and reading, hoping to be swept off my feet by the tragic romance of it all. Instead all I found were hideously dysfunctional interpersonal dynamics and clunky narration. Oh well. At least I finished it this time, which my marginal notes indicate that I did NOT do when I undertook this book in graduate school.
April 14, 2011
Was as good as I remember it, and always amazed by the awesomeness that is Emily Bronte. She deserves to be mentioned with the great authors and poets of her time. Her character development, and strength of her women, which I love in real life, is utterly amazing.
November 18, 2018
The sad story of a man made a monster by his circumstances and how no matter how inhuman he became, he still loved his soulmate. As Catherine used to say "whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same".
August 6, 2025
I am currently in Haworth, the little English village that was the home of the Bronte sisters and where they wrote their famous novels. including Emily's Wuthering Heights.
Yesterday I did a 3 hour/11 km round trip walk to the ruins of Top Withins which is believed to have inspired Emily Bronte to write Wuthering Heights. Passed a very picturesque bridge with a stream flowing underneath.
I visited Top Withins earlier 25 years ago when I was last in Haworth. I had forgotten how long the walk was.i can't imagine I will be doing this walk again 25 years from now hahah
Same as I did 25 years ago I have been rereading Wuthering Heights and I read a chapter by the ruins. Very atmospheric.
I have not read this novel in those 25 years since I was last at Haworth. I had forgotten much of the story but remembered Heathcliff as the villain.
I had forgotten how much of the story centred on the next generation and not on Heathcliff and Catherine, but their doomed love pervades the whole novel.
Haunting and disturbing. Heathcliff is bent on revenge. Inflicting on his own child and those of Cathy and Earnshaw his revenge on the unkindness shown to him.
Glad to have finished reading this novel in a B&B right on Haworth's Main street. Am off to the Bronte Parsonage Museum this morning to immerse myself further into the memories of the Brontes who walked this street almost 200 years ago.
Yesterday I did a 3 hour/11 km round trip walk to the ruins of Top Withins which is believed to have inspired Emily Bronte to write Wuthering Heights. Passed a very picturesque bridge with a stream flowing underneath.
I visited Top Withins earlier 25 years ago when I was last in Haworth. I had forgotten how long the walk was.i can't imagine I will be doing this walk again 25 years from now hahah
Same as I did 25 years ago I have been rereading Wuthering Heights and I read a chapter by the ruins. Very atmospheric.
I have not read this novel in those 25 years since I was last at Haworth. I had forgotten much of the story but remembered Heathcliff as the villain.
I had forgotten how much of the story centred on the next generation and not on Heathcliff and Catherine, but their doomed love pervades the whole novel.
Haunting and disturbing. Heathcliff is bent on revenge. Inflicting on his own child and those of Cathy and Earnshaw his revenge on the unkindness shown to him.
Glad to have finished reading this novel in a B&B right on Haworth's Main street. Am off to the Bronte Parsonage Museum this morning to immerse myself further into the memories of the Brontes who walked this street almost 200 years ago.
August 3, 2023
This was it for me. I’m so done you can put a fork in me surely. No romance book has come close to how Wuthering Heights stirred my emotions. Up then freaking down… and all around it goes. Dammit.
No book has frustrated me more. Angered me more. Made me cry more. And no book I loved more. This one was it for me.
It was and still is a hard to read for me because Cat & Heatcliff drove me crazy. I can’t stand them & yet… my loathing for Catherine is legendary … all my frustrations starts off with her. Heatcliff is a close second. He don’t get no pass from me… is it even possible to love two characters & hate them in the same breath like I do, all at the same time? This story though … I can’t make this up, even if I tried.
And yet their love is one for the ages. This is not a happy ending type of love story. This is drama unlike I’ve ever experienced. Heartache like no other story. I seriously don’t know where to start with these two soulmates & twin flames.
So… I’ll just leave it here. I loved this book so much it’s always hard for me to finish as it leaves me achingly sad. I could kick somethings in my frustrations. Damn …
A great story. Will forever be… what it is.
A love story unlike no other.
Love 💕
Bri.
No book has frustrated me more. Angered me more. Made me cry more. And no book I loved more. This one was it for me.
It was and still is a hard to read for me because Cat & Heatcliff drove me crazy. I can’t stand them & yet… my loathing for Catherine is legendary … all my frustrations starts off with her. Heatcliff is a close second. He don’t get no pass from me… is it even possible to love two characters & hate them in the same breath like I do, all at the same time? This story though … I can’t make this up, even if I tried.
And yet their love is one for the ages. This is not a happy ending type of love story. This is drama unlike I’ve ever experienced. Heartache like no other story. I seriously don’t know where to start with these two soulmates & twin flames.
So… I’ll just leave it here. I loved this book so much it’s always hard for me to finish as it leaves me achingly sad. I could kick somethings in my frustrations. Damn …
A great story. Will forever be… what it is.
A love story unlike no other.
Love 💕
Bri.
Currently reading
December 7, 2022Wuthering Heights is just one of those timeless books you can't ever forget.
And the ending, for me, is one of the most impactful parts of the story. One sentence, within Lockwood's thoughts, speaks to me: "“I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth."
The quiet earth. The moths. The heath. The harebells. Even after hearing about Heathcliff's death, their stories still resonate within me. Did he ever find peace? Did he change before his death? Did he ever care about Catherine and Linton? There are too many questions, and Lockwood's description of that cemetery, with so many memories, buried painfully under the headstones of Catherine, Edgar, and Heathcliff.
And that is the true beauty of Wuthering Heights to me.
And the ending, for me, is one of the most impactful parts of the story. One sentence, within Lockwood's thoughts, speaks to me: "“I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells, listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass, and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth."
The quiet earth. The moths. The heath. The harebells. Even after hearing about Heathcliff's death, their stories still resonate within me. Did he ever find peace? Did he change before his death? Did he ever care about Catherine and Linton? There are too many questions, and Lockwood's description of that cemetery, with so many memories, buried painfully under the headstones of Catherine, Edgar, and Heathcliff.
And that is the true beauty of Wuthering Heights to me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 25, 2023
Аз започвам с "Брулени хълмове".
Вечна. Дълбока. Драматична. Епична, тъжна и меланхолична.
Тежка книга.
Без съмнение една от най-известните класики.
На мен обаче не ми е любима🙂
Аз не обичам толкова тъжни, депресивни и толкова сиви истории.
Вървеше ми бавно.
Не харесах нито един от героите.
Не ме докоснаха.
Единственото, което почувствах затваряйки тази книга е опустошение, тъга и голямо облекчение.
Може би това на много от вас ще прозвучи странно.
Съзнавам, че тази книга е любима на много хора.
Това не е ревю.
Нито е критика към книгата.
Целта не е това.
Защото това е книга, сама по себе си шедьовър на литературата и неслучайно е в категория "световна класика".
Вечна. Дълбока. Драматична. Епична, тъжна и меланхолична.
Тежка книга.
Без съмнение една от най-известните класики.
На мен обаче не ми е любима🙂
Аз не обичам толкова тъжни, депресивни и толкова сиви истории.
Вървеше ми бавно.
Не харесах нито един от героите.
Не ме докоснаха.
Единственото, което почувствах затваряйки тази книга е опустошение, тъга и голямо облекчение.
Може би това на много от вас ще прозвучи странно.
Съзнавам, че тази книга е любима на много хора.
Това не е ревю.
Нито е критика към книгата.
Целта не е това.
Защото това е книга, сама по себе си шедьовър на литературата и неслучайно е в категория "световна класика".
August 27, 2022
I first read WH in junior high, and oh how I became swept away by adolescent swooning! Kate Bush only furthered my love for these tortured characters. As an adult I’m not nearly as patient with what now feels like such unnecessary drama (and I much prefer Jane Eyer), but I still find a lot of this fine review rings true: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
October 9, 2021
A beautiful portrayal of dysfunctional relationships, driven by anger and a sense of possession. The characters are constantly battling to break the cycle of abuse and suffering they are trapped in. Not all of them succeed.
October 19, 2023
A tale of spiteful selfish people doing spiteful selfish things, for the most part. There were a few lines that were beautiful and a few insults that made me laugh or wince outwardly, and I'm glad for the happy ending or I would have felt put out at struggling through so much dark, foul behaviour.
February 24, 2025
A formative book for me. I studied as a teenager and ended up reading it more than any other book I've encountered. Even now it holds its uniqueness against a backdrop of several decades' reading. It is a strange wild gothic poem of a novel.
July 4, 2018
Dark and depressing and filled with terrible people.
November 25, 2018
Without doubt the greatest book of fiction I've read!
May 9, 2020
Gets better with every reading.
January 16, 2022
“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same”. what a line
September 12, 2024
Read this book for a course on Victorian Literature. Love the Neo-Gothic / Neo-Romantic influence, and the focus on the ancient and primeval.
September 6, 2025
من افضل ما قرات احب سرد ايميلي بروتني حقا
الكتاب جميل وانصح به لمن يحب الكتب الكلاسيكية القوطية
الكتاب جميل وانصح به لمن يحب الكتب الكلاسيكية القوطية
October 15, 2025
these characters are all so deplorable at times...some of them deplorable at all times. but, this is a really good story. the writing is superb.
February 28, 2020
La primera parte me ha encantado, pero la segunda me ha dejado bastante fría en comparación
October 29, 2017
a dark book. The character and the stage in which the whole drama is enacted is gloomy. The vengeance, the misdirected love is the essence of the novel. The language is so easy to read, without you realizing you would have glided one hour of reading. I am yet to watch the movie based on the novel.
July 30, 2010
Most people can't get through this book, or that of Anne's. I have to say I love Jane Eyre More than I love Wuthering Heights. Their writing styles are so much different from each others!! I see why Anne tried so desperately to explain away her sisters over-the-top vulgarities within the book. Obviously her writing style was more controversial back than. I think people have a problem understanding her approach, and compared to Anne's writing which was angelic compared to Emily's, I think in my opinion she wanted to portray a more realistic dynamic to her story line. When structure and proper etiquette especially in writing back than, is called to challenge, people take offence easily. Even more so since women were seen as delicate entities, and not to be seen in any other light. I loved the novel because of it's out of character style to that period writing. It is a classic though-in-though.
August 29, 2009
I'm sorry. I just couldn't handle this book. I think the only character who didn't have serious emotional/personality issues was the semi-narrator/nanny. I couldn't identify with anyone--they were pretty much all psychotic. Not a fan.
August 28, 2015
More vulgar than anything I've ever read. I can only imagine how people reacted towards this masterpiece when it I as published in the 1800'. Bronte has a way with words that evokes emotion like no other author. Props to you girl, kill'em.
March 22, 2009
This is another of my favourite books of all times. I've read it so many times that I can't count them... Great characters. I love Heathcliff...
September 22, 2014
A bit too gloomy and dreary for me. Reminds me of Jane Austen's books with a darker spin.
October 27, 2008
I had such a crush on Heathcliff when I was in high school. So dark!
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