The Love Letters of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning

by Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The love affair between two of the Victorian era's most famous poets is one of passion, tragedy, illness, and ultimately, endurance. Collected here are their love letters, which capture their courtship, their blossoming love, and their forbidden marriage.

This is the story of one of history’s great love affairs.

The relationship between Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning began in his admiring her poetry. His audacious first letter moves from loving her books to loving her. She was alarmed by his "extravagance", and worried that he might substitute lioness-worship for real feeling. Much of her hesitation came from knowing that love can bring injury as well as boon. She had suffered such injury. The fullness of their love is revealed in these letters.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Classics, Romance, Biography, Love Story

208 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1994

About the author

Robert Browning (1812-1889) was a British poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.

Browning began writing poetry at age 13. These poems were eventually collected, but were later destroyed by Browning himself. In 1833, Browning's "Pauline" was published and received a cool reception. Harold Bloom believes that John Stuart Mill's review of the poem pointed Browning in the direction of the dramatic monologue.

In 1845, Browning wrote a letter to the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, professing that he loved her poetry and her. In 1846, the couple eloped to Europe, eventually settling in Florence in 1847. They had a son Pen.

Upon Elizabeth Barrett Browning's death in 1861, Browning returned to London with his son. While in London, he published Dramatis Personae (1864) and The Ring and the Book (1869), both of which gained him critical priase and respect. His last book Asolando was published in 1889 when the poet was 77.

In 1889, Browning traveled to Italy to visit friends. He died in Venice on December 12 while visiting his sister.

Reviews

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book made me feel a bit sad, and I'm not sure that this was the response to the material that the editors were expecting. Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning were two Victorian poets who had an epic romance that was sparked by their writing letters. An epistolary romance seems like something that is characteristically Victorian, and what we find in this particular book are the letters that the two wrote to each other over the first six months of their acquaintance. As someone who has written more than my fair share of letters, I can confidently say that while something like this is what I have had in mind with my own exchanges of letters, the results in my own life of my writing letters to ladies has not gone off nearly as well as was the case here, and perhaps that has something to do with the sadness that I met upon reading these fascinating letters in which two people who begin as perfect strangers to each other who know each other only as fellow writers with a high degree of respect for each other's poetry, within the course of six months of passionate letter writing, manage to fall deeply in love with each other out of a real regard for each other's feelings and thinking and a mutual respect that is impressive to see and impossible not to want for oneself.

This book is about 200 pages long and it consists of the letters between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett between January 10, 1845 and June 27, 1845. At the beginning the two are strangers. Browning has just read some praise of one of his poems about pomegranates in a lengthy poem of Barrett's that has just been published and he uses this as an opportunity to say that he loves Barrett's poems and her too. This rather daring beginning when dealing with a perfect stranger continues as the two go back and forth about their education, their thoughts about a wide variety of matters--which are filled with words and thoughts about the Greek language and the classics and that demonstrate both to be very well educated people with definite opinions as well as a graciousness in dealing with the thoughts and views of the other. The two of them talk about the poor health that the east wind brings, and encourage each other as writers regarding their works, and have several abortive efforts of meeting each other before they finally do, referring as well to mutual friends and fellow writers of the time as the letters show them more and more emotionally attached to each other as the correspondence goes on.

What is most striking about this work is that it began with a message by Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett about a poem she had written and published that contained a positive reference to a poetic work of his own. And part of what makes this book so intriguing is that while it is easy to tell the growing intellectual and emotional intimacy between the two over the course of the letters, the level of awkwardness between the two is quite striking as well. A great deal of the drama of this particular relationship is in the way that both of the parties were rather shy about meeting each other for the first time, and this timidity in interpersonal relationships combined with a great deal of thoughtful and emotional writing is a striking realization that the awkwardness that many of us feel in interpersonal relationships when combined with whatever facility we possess as writers is something that is not merely quirky and personal but a somewhat frequent phenomenon. In fact, it may even be true that those who are the most awkward and timid and shy in their personal relations have a strong encouragement to develop their skill at writing given the way that writing is a less immediate and less overwhelming way of describing oneself and displaying oneself in a way that does not require the uncomfortable interactions with others that tend to make us feel somewhat reclusive.

[cobwebbing · Rating 4 out of 5]

After having worked at Armstrong Browning Library in college I was familiar with the Brownings and interested in seeing their personal correspondences.

It’s basically two nerds waxing poetic (ha) back and forth and checking on each others’ health and being very affectionate. Some of the literary references they made went over my head but I’m glad to say I got most of them.

There was a misprint in this book at one point with white square spaces where there was meant to be either Greek or Hebrew. Whoops.

This isn’t so much a criticism as a wish—I think that the uninitiated might come into this book with no knowledge of the circumstances of the Brownings’ forbidden love, Elizabeth’s sickness, etc. so it might have benefited from an introduction and/or annotations. I’m sure there are other books with compilations of their letters that have those things that I’ll need to seek out.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried.

[Elizabeth Van Gorp · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite poet's early letters to her future husband? Yes please.

[Vonze · Rating 5 out of 5]

I, honestly, almost...almost feel bad for reading this.

Mainly because it's so intensely personal.

These two, today, I guess we'd call it, they had the FEELS.

They had the deep POET FEELS. Deepest of deep.

Every small detail. Their hearts are on their sleeve. Their depth is impossible to measure. So much passion for the little things. How beautifully they express themselves.

And there's even a bit of will-they or won't-they drama. Will shut-in Elizabeth open up and let Robert meet her? Will he call, again? (not on the phone)

Um, where's the movie about these two???

[Brittany Strickland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I was very disappointed by the content of the letters. They spoke a great deal about literature and illness, and it was difficult to follow some of the content. Though I understand this was a different time and they were in the beginning stages of their relationship, I think it is misleading to call this a collection of "love letters," at least by modern standards.

[Josh Gravholt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful and honestly Not what I was thinking… It was really quite sad, and maybe I’m bringing my own baggage into this, but sort of dysfunctional and twisted, sometimes. Also the the form in which many of these poems were written, isn’t something that I am familiar with. I would’ve really have liked a more scholarly framework surrounding the poems so that I can understand a little more about the form. I would also like to know more about their life, relationship, to give a little more context, That said, beautiful crafted and poignant poems and sonnets.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, smart and caring people. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Brice Fuqua · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lacks an introduction or footnotes to place the letters in context. The Greek passages are untranslated.

[Ally Fesmire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Feels silly to rate a book that's just a collection of the love letters of two poets whose work I've always loved. But still, reading it was interesting and enjoyable.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

made me miss letter writing relationships. although I was not as into the actual letters.

[Klara · Rating 5 out of 5]

me and who!

[Ashley H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Henry Miller told Anais Nin they were going to have a literary fuck-fest, he must have taken inspiration from the Brownings. To call these "love letters" may be a slight misnomer as they spend most of their time taking about literature, with only a few lines of sentimentality to be found. Still, they are beautifully written and it is lovely to watch their affection unfold.

[Mina · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a good book but the lauguage of it kinda messed me uo , only because i did not speak any of it .

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm pretty sure I will never be able to express my love and adoration for Elizabeth Barrett Browning. And even if I'm not moved by his poetry, Robert Browning was a wonderful man. I am just staring at this empty text box.
I have one complaint: I realize 600 letters is a lot of letters, and editing this edition would have been no mean feat, but... there were more of Ba's than Robert's, and sometime (often) they didn't print the letter that answered hers. So I'd read this painful or amazing (or amazingly painful) letter from Ba and not get to see how he answered it. The letters are all online now on the Baylor College website, so I kept putting the book down and going online to find the reply. Some of those replies are very important. Some of them are very beautiful. She had very serious anxieties and concerns and his replies are very, very important. So I am sad they were not published with this volume, and annoyed that I had to keep going and finding them myself. But it was very much worth finding them.
I love this book so much. I started underlining things and then it was like I couldn't stop. And then that wasn't enough, and I started dog-earing the pages so I could find my favourite parts again. This book would very easily be on my short-stack of "if you were on a dessert island with only this many books." I will take it out in quiet moments, or in moments that I need to be quiet, and comfort my soul with these words. They are so very wonderful.

[Eleni · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually shy away from reading other people's letters, even if they are eminent Victorian poets' love letters, but I had just read the play, The Barretts of Wimpole Street and became fascinated by the love story of poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. I thought reading the letters would somehow illuminate the play for me, but strangely enough the play seemed to embody the spirit of the romance better than the actual letters. The letters are a remarkable chronicle of the development of the relationship between two great artists, and if you love the poets by all means read their letters to each other. Though I suspect reading their poems would yield much more insight into the artists themselves.

[Jahque Sweeney-Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a sucker for love! Beautiful