1. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning

2. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Born 1806, the eldest child of a prosperous merchant family
Self-educated at home from the age of four
Composed her first poem at the age of eleven
Suffered an injury to her spine at the age of fifteen and illness seven years later. This left her an invalid all her life
At age of twenty published her first book of poetry
In 1832, family suffered financial loss. The family moved to London

3. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning
Due to poor health, she moved to Rorquay on the south coast of Devonshire
Spent three years living as an invalid
Returned to London and resigned herself to life confined to her bedroom as an invalid.
In 1845, she began exchanging letters with Robert Browning
The following year they married and moved to Florence, Italy
Their son Robert was born in 1849
Elizabeth died in 1861
At the time of her death, she was more popular than Robert

4. Images of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

5. E.B. Browning’s Poetry ‘ Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850)
Casa Guidi Windows (1851)
Aurora Leigh (1857)
Collection of poetry published after her death

6. Sonnets from the Portuguese
The sonnets record her love for Robert
The sonnets progressed as her relationship with Browning progressed
Great outpouring of feeling and intensity of passion

7. Aurora Leigh
Synthesis of lyric and narrative elements, literary and social theory
Foundational text for women poets, feminist activists, and feminist literary scholars.
A prose narrative of an artist’s development