THE LOVE POEMS OF ELIZABETH AND ROBERT BROWNING

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Foreword)

The story of the Brownings is one of the strangest love stories of literature. Elizabeth Barrett was a thirty-nine year old invalid when Robert Browning, six years younger than she, stormed impetuously into her life. She was already a well known author; he was a rising but scarcely recognized poet. Born in Durham, March 6, 1806, the eldest of eleven children, Elizabeth was extraordinarily precocious. She read Greek at eight; at twelve she wrote an "epic" in four books, The Battle of Marathon, which her father had printed. At fifteen she injured her spine, either by a fall from a horse or by strain caused by tightening the saddle girths. A persistent cough kept her confined in London with occasional visits to the seashore. The death of her beloved brother by drowning and her father's jealous possessiveness plunged her into a half real, half-enforced melancholy. Approaching her forties, she seemed destined for a life of shrouded invalidism. Her father, Edward Moulton Barrett, has been pictured as a cruel and almost tyrannical parent. Besier's popular play, The Barretts of Wimpole Street, presents him in the light of a villain, violent and even vindictive, a man from whom his children shrank in fear and who commanded their obedience but not their love. The disciples of Freud have made much of a subconscious incestuous attachment and have rung changes on the paradox of fascination and fear, of loving and loathing. But Elizabeth, Barrett's oldest child and his favorite daughter, was not, as we might be led to believe, revolted by her father's love. She returned his affection not only with the unreckoning simplicity of a child but with the full understanding of a constant companion. It might be surmised that this dedication was a youthful quid pro quo, the filial repayment of a girl just out of her teens. But this is far from chronological fact. The volume that contained this acknowledgment of glad dependence, loyalty and admiration was published in 1844, when Elizabeth Barrett was thirty-eight years. Just a year later Robert Browning was brought to her home. He was already in love with her, even before he saw her. She had praised some of his lines in a poem, "Lady Geraldine's Courtship," and his first letter to her began, "I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett." Then, after a page or two of literary compliments, he added boyishly, "And I love you too." In spite of her father's disapproval, the young poet practically forced his way into the forbidding house, courted Elizabeth swiftly and tempestuously, and challenged the very authority of her father. To counteract Browning's growing influence, Mr. Barrett made plans to move the entire family to the country. Browning was now aroused to act; on September 12, 1846, he persuaded Elizabeth to slip from the house and marry him secretly in Marylebone Church. A week later, accompanied only by her maid Wilson and her dog Flush -- the pet spaniel given to her by a friend Mary Russell Mitford, author of Our Village -- the married poets crossed the channel, passed to Paris, to Pisa, and finally to Florence where they began a new life. This collection of 92 poems written by Elizabeth Barrett Browing and Robert Browning over a period of many years, and selected by Louis Untermeyer, tells this rapturous love story.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Romance, Love

268 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most respected poets of the Victorian era.

Born in County Durham, the eldest of 12 children, Browning was educated at home. She wrote poetry from around the age of six and this was compiled by her mother, comprising what is now one of the largest collections extant of juvenilia by any English writer. At 15 Browning became ill, suffering from intense head and spinal pain for the rest of her life, rendering her frail. She took laudanum for the pain, which may have led to a lifelong addiction and contributed to her weak health.

In the 1830s Barrett's cousin John Kenyon introduced her to prominent literary figures of the day such as William Wordsworth, Mary Russell Mitford, Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Thomas Carlyle. Browning's first adult collection The Seraphim and Other Poems was published in 1838. During this time she contracted a disease, possibly tuberculosis, which weakened her further. Living at Wimpole Street, in London, Browning wrote prolifically between 1841 and 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 a rival to Tennyson as a candidate for poet laureate on the death of Wordsworth.

Browning's volume Poems (1844) brought her great success. During this time she met and corresponded with the writer Robert Browning, who admired her work. The courtship and marriage between the two were carried out in secret, for fear of her father's disapproval. Following the wedding she was disinherited by her father and rejected by her brothers. The couple moved to Italy in 1846, where she would live for the rest of her life. They had one son, Robert Barrett Browning, whom they called Pen. Towards the end of her life, her lung function worsened, and she died in Florence in 1861. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband shortly after her death.

Browning was brought up in a strongly religious household, and much of her work carries a Christian theme. Her 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).

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I adored these poems. They were beautiful. Robert and Elizabeth had such a fascinating and beautiful love story and their poetry definitely reflects that.

All that I know
Of a certain star
Is, it can throw
(Like the angled spar)
Now a dart of red,
Now a dart of blue,
Till my friends have said
They would fain see, too,
My star that dartles the red and the blue!
Then it stops like a bird: like a flower, hangs furled;
They must solace themselves with the Saturn above it.
What matter to me if their star is a world?
Mine has opened its soul to me; therefore I love it.
My Star, Robert Browning

I'm pretty sure any woman would be stoked to have her husband write her a poem like that.

'Mine has opened its soul to me; therefore I love it'???

Mr Darcy has nothing on this guy.

[P.S. Winn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful feel to these poems, great book to have next to your bed and read before you settle down for the night.

[Makenzie Muñoz]

DnF 9.6.2024

Wasn't connecting :(

[Sarina]

Lost steam once it switched to the Robert Browning poems. I preferred the Elizabeth Barrett Browning ones.

[uh8myzen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forget all of the mindless and empty Hollywood romances of our day which are more about publicity than true effection. The Brownings shared a truely passionate and loving relationship which was echoed in the poetry and letters they wrote to one another.

For anyone who wants real passion and romance, this is the real thing. For anyone looking for deep and meaningful verse, this is also the real thing. This collection contains timeless love shared and explored through the verse of two of the greatest English poets of all time.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cutest couple in history. Also, I kind of want to go back in time and steal her dog, but Flush would probably bite me for separating him from his owner.

[Shelby Rollenhagen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry is such a beautiful thing.

I have to admit that I enjoy Elisabeth Barret Browning far more than her husband. Just her works I would give 4 stars.

My favorite verse: "I have known how sickness bends,
I have known how sorrow breaks, -
How quick hopes have sudden ends,
How the heart thinks till it aches
Of the smile of buried friends."

[Camille Bovee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous love poems!

[Amber Fernie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful collection of their poetry, but I think I would have liked it better if they were more interspersed. I also would have enjoyed some further commentary.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love EBB’s work, she speaks to my soul. Her husband… meh, not so much. His stuff is harder to follow.

[ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

BRUHHHHHHH 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the poems of Mr. and Mrs. Browning. I didn't know much about their life before reading this book. These poems are beautiful and personal and powerfully emotional. This was a surprise to me too considering the era they were written in.

[Keri Daskam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know my reading didn't do justice to this book. Still, I learned more about the Brownings, increased my poetry intake, and realized I prefer Robert to Elizabeth. 'Love in a Life', 'Summum Bonum', and 'A Lovers' Quarrel' were my favorites.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice, pleasant read. I think Robert Browning has a better grasp of composition (or, at least, the type of composition I prefer), but Elizabeth has more depth of feeling. I was looking for an excellent example of requited love, and I found it here.

[Resader]

shhhh

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

it made me grow up with time and taught me how to love

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice collection of Love Poems.

[Vera Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!

[Andrea Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Their romance always delights me, mine seems much darker. excellent read.

[Ronald Cruise · Rating 4 out of 5]

fantastic . . .