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Classic Authors: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

© Susan Jensen

Elizabeth Barrett Browning penned some of the most famous lines in English literature, including, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways . . ." Not only was she one of the most popular poets of her time, but she was also an advocate for social change and women's rights. With her marriage to Robert Browning, she also became one of the most romantic figures in the history of British writers.

Elizabeth was born on March 6, 1806, in Coxhoe Hall, County Durham, England, the first of 12 children born to Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett and Mary Graham Clarke. Edward Barrett made his fortune from Jamaican sugar plantations; thus Elizabeth and her siblings lived privileged childhoods. She spent her days riding ponies, visiting friends, and staging elaborate theatrical productions.

She began writing at a young age, and became a published author while yet in her teens. Her appetite for learning consumed her, and she read voraciously. By the age of 12, she had written an "epic" poem, consisting of 4 books of rhyming couplets. Two years later, her father private printed 50 copies of The Battle of the Marathon , making Elizabeth Barrett a published writer. She published An Essay on Mind when she was only 20, and her first collected edition, Poems, appeared in 1844.

Although she lived a privileged life, Elizabeth's young adulthood saw tragedy and sorrow. When Elizabeth was 22, her mother passed away. A decade later, Elizabeth contracted a mysterious illness. In failing health, she retired to the seashore, bringing along her favorite brother for company. Tragically, he drowned there. In shock, she returned, closeting herself in her bedroom and seeing no one. From that time forth, she lived the life of an invalid.

Her romance with Robert Browning came shortly after the publication of Poems. After reading the volume, he vowed to meet her, and began courting her through letters and poems. Elizabeth's father had forbidden any of his children to marry, so when she and Robert eloped to Italy, she was disinherited and shunned by her father.

Robert and Elizabeth Browning were married on September 12, 1846. Three years later, Elizabeth gave birth to a baby boy, Robert Weidemann Barrett Browning, nicknamed "Pen." Pen later married, but never had children of his own.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning continued to write prolifically, earning accolades for Sonnets From Portugese (1850), Casa Guidi Windows (1851), Aurora Leigh (1857) and Poems Before Congress (1860). She also became involved in political movements, taking up such causes as women's rights and the abolition of slavery. Her writing became very popular. She was even considered for the poet laureateship after Wordsworth's death in 1850, although it went to Tennyson.