Class Notes: Aurora Leigh

Aurora Leigh
By: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Is the novel difficult to understand? Throughout my reading, I was able to understand best the sections where the narrator describes her life and events. Other parts are difficult for me to comprehend entirely.

Why did Virginia Woolf not see Elizabeth Barrett Browning as a Shakespeare? Her mother died when she was 20 years old. Her first published piece came out when she was 22. A very radical person - an amazing poet. Her father tried to shelter her; her and her siblings were not to marry. Unknowingly, she was addicted to morphine. In 1845, she met via letter, Robert Browning. They eloped shortly after. The two of them lived the expatriate life together. Elizabeth authored "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..." which became famous.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's life was very different from that of Aurora Leigh's. Aurora's mother dies when she was 4 years old. Her father dies later on and she moves in with her father's sister. Her father was the owner of land and property. By him marrying Aurora's mother, his sister was deprived of her anticipated title. He fell in love with Aurora's mother instantly. As a result, he looses all interest in his estate. Her father loves and takes care of his daughter; he teaches her...

What has formed/shaped us? Television, books, music, culture in general?

"To travel inland, that I cannot hear
That murmur of the outer Infinite
Which unweaned babies smile at in their sleep"

After her mother's death Aurora feels like she is deserted in the nest.

"Women know
The way to rear up children, (to be just,)
They know a simple, merry, tender knack
Of tying sashes, fitting baby-shoes,
And stringing pretty words that make no sense,
And kissing full sense into empty words"

Her father is unsuccessful in talking to his daughter at first; she eventually pulls him in through understanding.

Online Version:
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/barrett/aurora/aurora.html