Elizabeth Barrett was possibly the most beloved of Victorian poets. The eldest of a dozen children (eleven of whom lived to become adults), Elizabeth was raised in a wealthy but strictly ordered household. She was a well-known poet and a spinster of thirty-eight when Robert Browning began to write to her. “I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett,” he gushed. She must have liked what she read because she wrote back. They kept their relationship a secret, knowing her father would not approve. In fact, he disowned every one of his children who married. On this day in 1846, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning eloped. If you think you’re not familiar with her work, think again: “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach . . . And if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.”
He disowned them? You'd think he would have wanted his children to marry. Perhaps the dowry was too small...
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the movie Miss Potter? I think Elizabeth's father was something like Beatrix Potter's parents. No one was ever good enough for his children. And I suspect he may have liked having a house full of people to order about.
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