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Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Moulton) (March 6,
1806 – June 29, 1861) was the most respected
poetess of the Victorian era.

She was born at Cohnadatia Hall (now demolished)
near Durham, England in 1806, the daughter of
Edward Barrett, who assumed the last name on
succeeding to the estates of his grandfather in
Jamaica. She was christened in Kelloe church,
where a plaque describes her as \'a great poetess,
a noble woman, a devoted wife\'. Her mother was
Mary Graham-Clarke of a wealthy Newcastle family.
She and Edward Barrett married there in St
Nicholas, Gosforth in 1805. She spent her youth at
Hope End, near Great Malvern. While still a child
she showed her gift, and her father published 50
copies of a juvenile epic, on the Battle of
Marathon. She was educated at home, but owed her
profound knowledge of Greek and much mental
stimulus to her early friendship with the blind
scholar, Hugh Stuart Boyd, who was a neighbour. In
her early teens, Elizabeth contracted a lung
complaint, possibly tuberculosis, although the
exact nature has been the subject of much
speculation, and was treated as an invalid by her
parents. For a girl of that time, she was
well-educated, having been allowed to attend
lessons with her brother\'s tutor. She published
her first poem, anonymously, at the age of
fourteen. In 1826 she published anonymously An
Essay on Mind and Other Poems.

Shortly afterwards the abolition of slavery, of
which he had been a disinterested supporter,
considerably reduced Mr. Barrett\'s means: he
accordingly disposed of his estate and removed
with his family first to Sidmouth and afterwards
to London. At the former Miss Barrett wrote
Prometheus Bound (1835). After her removal to
London she fell into delicate health, her lungs
being threatened. This did not, however, interfere
with her literary labours, and she contributed to
various periodicals The Romaunt of Margaret, The
Romaunt of the Page, The Poet\'s Vow, and other
pieces. In 1838 appeared The Seraphim and Other
Poems (including \"Cowper\'s Grave.\") Shortly
thereafter the death, by drowning, of her
favourite brother gave a serious shock to her
already fragile health, and for a time she hovered
between life and death. Eventually, however, she
regained strength, and meanwhile her fame was
growing. The publishing about 1841 of The Cry of
the Children gave it a great impulse, and about
the same time she contributed some critical papers
in prose to R.H. Horne\'s New Spirit of the Age.
In 1844 she published two volumes of Poems, which
comprised \"The Drama of Exile,\" \"Vision of
Poets,\" and \"Lady Geraldine\'s Courtship.\" In
1845 she met for the first time her future
husband, Robert Browning. Their courtship and
marriage, owing to her delicate health and the
extraordinary objections entertained by Mr.
Barrett to the marriage of any of his children,
were carried out under somewhat peculiar and
romantic circumstances. After a private marriage
and a secret departure from her home, she
accompanied her husband to Italy, which became her
home almost continuously until her death, and with
the political aspirations of which she and her
husband both thoroughly identified themselves. The
union proved one of unalloyed happiness to both,
though it was never forgiven by Mr. Barrett. In
her new circumstances her strength greatly
increased. Her husband and she settled in
Florence, and there she wrote Casa Guidi Windows
(1851)—by many considered her strongest work—under
the inspiration of the Tuscan struggle for
liberty. Aurora Leigh, her largest, and perhaps
the most popular of her longer poems, appeared in
1856. In 1850 The Sonnets from the Portuguese—the
history of her own love-story, thinly disguised by
its title—had appeared. In 1860 she issued a
collected edition of her poems under the title,
Poems before Congress. Soon thereafter her health
underwent a change for the worse; she gradually
lost strength, and died on June 29, 1861. She is
buried in Florence in the Cimitero Degli Inglesi.

Mrs. Browning is generally considered the greatest
of English poetesses. Her works are full of tender
and delicate, but also of strong and deep,
thought. Her own sufferings, combined with her
moral and intellectual strength, made her the
champion of the suffering and oppressed wherever
she found them. Her gift was essentially lyrical,
though much of her work was not so in form. Her
weak points are the lack of compression, an
occasional somewhat obtrusive mannerism, and
frequent failure both in metre and rhyme. Though
not nearly the equal of her husband in force of
intellect and the higher qualities of the poet,
her works had, as might be expected on a
comparison of their respective subjects and
styles, a much earlier and wider acceptance with
the general public. Mrs. Browning was a woman of
singular nobility and charm, and though not
beautiful, was remarkably attractive. Mary Russell
Mitford thus describes her as a young woman: \"A
slight, delicate figure, with a shower of dark
curls falling on each side of a most expressive
face; large, tender eyes, richly fringed by dark
eyelashes, and a smile like a sunbeam.\"

Her most famous work is Sonnets from the
Portuguese, a collection of love sonnets written
by Browning but disguised as a translation. By far
the most famous poem from this collection, with
one of the most famous opening lines in the
English language, is number 43:

    How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
    I love thee to the depth and breadth and
height
    My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
    For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
    I love thee to the level of everyday\'s
    Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
    I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
    I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
    I love thee with the passion put to use
    In my old griefs, and with my childhood\'s
faith.
    I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
    With my lost saints!---I love thee with the
breath,
    Smiles, tears, of all my life!---and, if God
choose,
    I shall but love thee better after death.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Moulton) (March 6,
1806 – June 29, 1861) was the most respected
poetess of the Victorian era.

She was born at Cohnadatia Hall (now demolished)
near Durham, England in 1806, the daughter of
Edward Barrett, who assumed the last name on
succeeding to the estates of his grandfather in
Jamaica. She was christened in Kelloe church,
where a plaque describes her as \'a great poetess,
a noble woman, a devoted wife\'. Her mother was
Mary Graham-Clarke of a wealthy Newcastle family.
She and Edward Barrett married there in St
Nicholas, Gosforth in 1805. She spent her youth at
Hope End, near Great Malvern. While still a child
she showed her gift, and her father published 50
copies of a juvenile epic, on the Battle of
Marathon. She was educated at home, but owed her
profound knowledge of Greek and much mental
stimulus to her early friendship with the blind
scholar, Hugh Stuart Boyd, who was a neighbour. In
her early teens, Elizabeth contracted a lung
complaint, possibly tuberculosis, although the
exact nature has been the subject of much
speculation, and was treated as an invalid by her
parents. For a girl of that time, she was
well-educated, having been allowed to attend
lessons with her brother\'s tutor. She published
her first poem, anonymously, at the age of
fourteen. In 1826 she published anonymously An
Essay on Mind and Other Poems.

Shortly afterwards the abolition of slavery, of
which he had been a disinterested supporter,
considerably reduced Mr. Barrett\'s means: he
accordingly disposed of his estate and removed
with his family first to Sidmouth and afterwards
to London. At the former Miss Barrett wrote
Prometheus Bound (1835). After her removal to
London she fell into delicate health, her lungs
being threatened. This did not, however, interfere
with her literary labours, and she contributed to
various periodicals The Romaunt of Margaret, The
Romaunt of the Page, The Poet\'s Vow, and other
pieces. In 1838 appeared The Seraphim and Other
Poems (including \"Cowper\'s Grave.\") Shortly
thereafter the death, by drowning, of her
favourite brother gave a serious shock to her
already fragile health, and for a time she hovered
between life and death. Eventually, however, she
regained strength, and meanwhile her fame was
growing. The publishing about 1841 of The Cry of
the Children gave it a great impulse, and about
the same time she contributed some critical papers
in prose to R.H. Horne\'s New Spirit of the Age.
In 1844 she published two volumes of Poems, which
comprised \"The Drama of Exile,\" \"Vision of
Poets,\" and \"Lady Geraldine\'s Courtship.\" In
1845 she met for the first time her future
husband, Robert Browning. Their courtship and
marriage, owing to her delicate health and the
extraordinary objections entertained by Mr.
Barrett to the marriage of any of his children,
were carried out under somewhat peculiar and
romantic circumstances. After a private marriage
and a secret departure from her home, she
accompanied her husband to Italy, which became her
home almost continuously until her death, and with
the political aspirations of which she and her
husband both thoroughly identified themselves. The
union proved one of unalloyed happiness to both,
though it was never forgiven by Mr. Barrett. In
her new circumstances her strength greatly
increased. Her husband and she settled in
Florence, and there she wrote Casa Guidi Windows
(1851)—by many considered her strongest work—under
the inspiration of the Tuscan struggle for
liberty. Aurora Leigh, her largest, and perhaps
the most popular of her longer poems, appeared in
1856. In 1850 The Sonnets from the Portuguese—the
history of her own love-story, thinly disguised by
its title—had appeared. In 1860 she issued a
collected edition of her poems under the title,
Poems before Congress. Soon thereafter her health
underwent a change for the worse; she gradually
lost strength, and died on June 29, 1861. She is
buried in Florence in the Cimitero Degli Inglesi.

Mrs. Browning is generally considered the greatest
of English poetesses. Her works are full of tender
and delicate, but also of strong and deep,
thought. Her own sufferings, combined with her
moral and intellectual strength, made her the
champion of the suffering and oppressed wherever
she found them. Her gift was essentially lyrical,
though much of her work was not so in form. Her
weak points are the lack of compression, an
occasional somewhat obtrusive mannerism, and
frequent failure both in metre and rhyme. Though
not nearly the equal of her husband in force of
intellect and the higher qualities of the poet,
her works had, as might be expected on a
comparison of their respective subjects and
styles, a much earlier and wider acceptance with
the general public. Mrs. Browning was a woman of
singular nobility and charm, and though not
beautiful, was remarkably attractive. Mary Russell
Mitford thus describes her as a young woman: \"A
slight, delicate figure, with a shower of dark
curls falling on each side of a most expressive
face; large, tender eyes, richly fringed by dark
eyelashes, and a smile like a sunbeam.\"

Her most famous work is Sonnets from the
Portuguese, a collection of love sonnets written
by Browning but disguised as a translation. By far
the most famous poem from this collection, with
one of the most famous opening lines in the
English language, is number 43:

    How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
    I love thee to the depth and breadth and
height
    My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
    For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
    I love thee to the level of everyday\'s
    Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
    I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
    I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
    I love thee with the passion put to use
    In my old griefs, and with my childhood\'s
faith.
    I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
    With my lost saints!---I love thee with the
breath,
    Smiles, tears, of all my life!---and, if God
choose,
    I shall but love thee better after death.