emma_in_dream

I want to shout out to Frederick Enoch, a very perceptive reader, who in 1846 bought a copy of the collected poems of the Brontes (published as Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell).


He was one of two – count them, two – people to buy copies of the book that year. Rather embarrassing for the authors, but their readership made up in quality for what it lacked in quantity. Mr Enoch wrote to them, praising the poems and asking for their autographs. He got what turned out to be the only document in the world with the ‘signatures’ of the three Bell brothers on it.


After the publication of *Jane Eyre*, the poetry sold like hot cakes, but Mr Enoch was ahead of his time.

I read *The Brontes: Selected Poems*, edited by Juliet R.V. Barker (1985). I was given it as a teen and I still really appreciate the work in it, especially Emily Bronte's. (In some ways I think her over the top romanticism works best in the form of poetry rather than the novel).

For the benefit of those who have not had time to find the poetical works of the Brontes, here are some examples:


Charlotte Bronte likes the big, over the top declarations of painful love... Not surprising.

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Poor old Branwell Bronte wrote works which showed off his erudition in the form of classical allusions and which have dated terribly. See if you can read this without snoring...

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Emily Bronte is my favourite. I would probably find her works too over the top if I had come to them as an adult, but I first read them in adolescence so they seem moving to me.

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And this one which came from her imaginary world which she shared with Anne.

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Anne Bronte wrote on a much quieter but still fine scale.

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Some questions to aid discussion.

* What was with the obsession with death? A result of their upbringing or a general nineteenth-century preoccupation? Or a general poetic obssession?

* Does the use of rhyme lead you through the poetry?

* Compare and contrast the siblings.

Our first read of 2011!