Status Updates From Strange Music

Elizabeth Barrett had an opium addiction second to none...

She should slide back into the antiquated days of the past, live as a kept creature, far removed from intelligent thought and speech. For what use is the pen to a woman shackled and enslaved if she refuses to pick it up and to slash the bands that tie her?

Over a period of 20 months Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning exchanged 600 letters, first discussing poetry, then as part of their courtship...all without the benefit of the internet :)