Emily Jane Bronte

English writer and poet Emily Jane Bronte is best known for her book Wuthering Heights, which is now considered a classic. She, along with her sisters Charlotte and Anne, wrote a poetry collection called Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Her poems are well-regarded for their literary talent. Emily was the second youngest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, after her brother Branwell and the youngest, Anne. She used the pen name Ellis Bell for

Early Life

In 1834, the Brontë sisters' brother, Branwell Brontë, painted a picture of the three sisters: Anne, Emily, and Charlotte, from left to right. Initially, Branwell put himself between Emily and Charlotte, but later he painted himself out.

Emily was born on July 30, 1818, to Maria Branwell and her Irish father Patrick Brontë. The family lived in Thornton, a village near Bradford in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, on Market Street, now known as the Brontë Birthplace. Among the siblings, Emily was the second youngest, after Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, and Branwell. Anne, the youngest Brontë child and Emily's sister, was born in 1820. Shortly after, the family moved eight miles away to Haworth, where Patrick became a permanent curate. In Haworth, the children could develop their literary skills.

On September 15, 1821, Emily and her brothers and sisters faced a sad time when they lost their mom, Maria, to cancer. She was only 30, and all six kids were below eight years old. To take care of the little ones, Elizabeth Branwell, Maria's sister, stepped in.

Maria, Elizabeth, and Charlotte, Emily's three older sisters, went to a school called the Clergy Daughters' School in Cowan Bridge. When Emily was six, on November 25, 1824, she joined them. However, the children faced tough times at school-they were treated badly, and there was not enough for them. A sickness, typhoid, spread at the school, and Maria and Elizabeth got sick. Maria came back home but, sadly, she didn't get better and might have had tuberculosis. Soon after, Elizabeth also passed away. The Brontë family lost the three eldest ladies, and the four youngest, all under 10, had to deal with the sadness.

The school conditions were bad, said Charlotte, and they affected her health and overall growth. She believed it caused the early deaths of Maria (1814-1815) and Elizabeth (1815-1825). Patrick took Charlotte and Emily out of the school after his older daughters died. In "Jane Eyre," the Lowood School is like the one Charlotte experienced and understood.

After that, their dad and aunt, Elizabeth Branwell, taught the three remaining girls and their brother at home. Emily was a quiet child who liked animals a lot. She was especially close to her brothers and made friends with stray dogs she met while roaming in the countryside. Emily and her siblings didn't go to a regular school, but they had lots of books to read, like Blackwood's Magazine, Byron, Shelley, and Sir Walter Scott, which they really enjoyed.

Because Branwell got a box of toy soldiers as a gift, the kids got inspired to write stories. They created made-up worlds and put their soldiers in them, along with their heroes, the Duke of Wellington and his sons, Charles and Arthur Wellesley. Not much of what Emily wrote during this time is left, except for some poetry spoken by characters. In the beginning, all four kids worked together to tell stories about a place they made up called Angria.

However, when Emily was thirteen, she and Anne stopped being part of the Angria story and began a new one about an imaginary island called Gondal. This island's myths and traditions became a big part of the two sisters' lives. Emily and Anne didn't leave much of their Gondal writings, except for their Gondal poetry and Anne's lists of Gondal's place names and characters. There are a few "diary papers" that Emily wrote in her twenties, detailing what happened in Gondal. The heroes in Gondal were like the British version of the "noble savage," being romantic outlaws with more nobility, passion, and valor than the people in "civilization." They often resembled the popular image of the Scottish Highlander.

All the Brontës' early writings have themes of romanticism and noble savagery. One well-known work is Branwell's The Life of Alexander Percy, often seen as inspiring Wuthering Heights. This story talks about a love that takes over everything, challenges death, and ends up destroying itself. When Emily turned seventeen, she joined Roe Head Girls' School, where Charlotte was a teacher. However, she left after a few months because she felt extremely homesick. Charlotte mentioned in a later letter, "Emmy's breath was liberty; without it, she perished."

What Emily couldn't handle was going from her own house to a school and from her quiet, private, yet free and natural way of living to a strict routine, even though it was a friendly place. I strongly felt she might not survive if she didn't come back home, and I used this belief to convince her to return." After Emily came back home, Anne took her place. The girls' aim at this time was to learn enough to start a small school of their own.

Adulthood

When Emily turned twenty in September 1838, she began teaching at Law Hill School in Halifax. However, by April 1839, her health, which was already not great, gave in because of the long 17-hour workdays. After that, she came back home and worked in Haworth, mostly doing cleaning, cooking, and ironing. She also played the piano and taught herself German using books.

To get better at French and German before opening their school, Emily and Charlotte went to Héger Pensionnat in Brussels, Belgium, in 1842. They studied at a girls' academy run by Constantin Héger. Unlike Charlotte, Emily felt uncomfortable in Brussels and refused to dress like the Belgians, saying, "I wish to be as God made me," which made her a bit of an outsider. Nine of Emily's French essays from this time still exist. Héger seemed to be impressed by Emily's inner strength, mentioning that:

She was a natural explorer; she should have been a man. Her strong intellect could have discovered new areas of knowledge from ancient wisdom, and her powerful will would not have given in to challenges but would have persisted till the end. Unfortunately, her stubborn determination got in the way of this gift, making her ignore any reasoning about her own desires or sense of right. She had a smart mind for logic and a great ability to argue with both men and women.

Focused on their studies, the two sisters got so good at French by the end of the term that Madame Héger suggested they stay for another six months. She even offered to fire the English professor so that Charlotte could take his place, as per Charlotte's account. They thought Emily could keep teaching music since she was now skilled at playing the piano and giving lessons. But they had to return to their father and Haworth because their aunt got sick and passed away. Their attempt to start a school at home in 1844 didn't work out because they couldn't attract students to the distant place.

In 1844, after finishing writing her poems, Emily sorted them into two notebooks. One was labeled "Gondal Poems," and the other didn't have a label. Researchers like Fannie Ratchford and Derek Roper have tried to piece together a Gondal story and timeline from these poems. Charlotte discovered the notebooks in the fall of 1845 and insisted that the poetry be shared with the public. At first, Emily was upset about her personal space being invaded, but she gave in when Anne revealed her own writings and confessed to Charlotte that she, too, had been writing poems in secret.

Anne and Emily, as co-authors of Gondal stories, used to share their poetry and Gondal tales with each other. However, Charlotte wasn't allowed to read them in private. In response to her privacy being invaded and her becoming a published author, Emily wrote one of her famous poems, "No coward soul is mine," around this time. Despite what Charlotte later mentioned, it wasn't Emily's final poem.

The sisters' poems were gathered and published in one book as poetry by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell in 1846. To avoid using their initials, the Brontë sisters chose fake names for publishing: Charlotte became "Currer Bell," Emily became "Ellis Bell," and Anne became "Acton Bell." Charlotte explained their "confusing choice" as being "decided by a kind of honest hesitation about using Christian names that are clearly for men, but we also didn't want to say we're women, because, we had a vague feeling that female authors might face bias," in the "Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell."

Charlotte contributed nineteen poems, and both Emily and Anne contributed twenty-one each. Even though they found out a few months later that only two copies had been sold, the sisters stayed hopeful. One of the two readers liked their writing so much that he asked for their autographs. The Critic reviewer recognized "more genius than people thought this practical age had given to the loftier exercises of the mind," and the Athenaeum reviewer praised Ellis Bell's work for its strength and melody, singling out his poems as the best: "Ellis has a fine, unique spirit and a clear ability to soar to heights not tried here."

Personality and Character

Because Emily Brontë is a private and secluded person, it's hard for biographers to understand her and her mystery. Emily doesn't seem to have made any friends outside her family, except for Louise de Bassompierre, a classmate in Brussels, and Ellen Nussey. Her sister Anne was her closest friend. When they were kids, they were "like twins," "always together," and "in the closest understanding that never had any break," as per Ellen Nussey. They shared their own make-believe world, Gondal.

Anne worked as Emily's governess for five years. In 1845, Anne took Emily to places that Emily liked and knew well. When their original trip to Scarborough got canceled, Anne took Emily to York, where she showed her York Minster. During the trip, the sisters pretended to be some of their Gondal characters.

The main person who tells us about Emily is still Charlotte Brontë, but some scholars disagree with her fairness because she was the older sister and only wrote about Emily after she passed away. According to Stevie Davies, there might be what we can call "Charlotte's smoke-screen," and she suggests that Emily surprised Charlotte so much that it might have made her question her sister's morals. Charlotte changed Emily's life story, personality, and even poems after she died to fit a pattern that was more acceptable to her and the regular reading audience.

Because Elizabeth Gaskell didn't visit Haworth until after Emily passed away, and in her biography of Charlotte, Gaskell admits that she didn't like what she knew about Emily, biographer Claire O'Callaghan suggests that Gaskell's biography of Charlotte changed Brontë's legacy a lot. O'Callaghan and others say that Charlotte was the main person who told Gaskell about Emily's life, and it's possible that she exaggerated or made up things about Emily being weak and shy to make herself look like Emily's caring savior.

Charlotte described Emily as having a very strong connection to the Yorkshire moors and feeling homesick whenever she traveled, making her love for nature seem more intense than it really was. In looking at the biographies of the Brontë sisters, Lucasta Miller says that Charlotte "created the first stories about Emily." In 1850, Charlotte wrote the following in the Preface of the Second Edition of Wuthering Heights:

Except for going to church or taking a walk in the hills, my sister wasn't naturally social. The place where she lived encouraged her tendency to be alone. She rarely left the house. Even though she had a kind heart towards the people in the area, she hardly ever pursued any romantic relationships with them, except for a very few instances. Despite knowing about their customs, language, and family background, she could talk to them and listen to them with interest and accuracy. However, she seldom spoke directly to them.

Emily's extreme shyness and not being very social have been well recorded. Norma Crandall mentioned that her "warm, human aspect" was usually only seen in her love of nature and animals.

Critics agree that Emily's love for the moors is clear in Wuthering Heights. A literary article from 1883 describes Emily similarly, saying, "She loved all wild, free creatures and things, she loved the solemn moors." Many stories over the years have talked about Emily's deep connection to the outdoors. According to a simple story found in a newspaper from December 31, 1899, "With birds and animals, Emily had the most intimate relationships, and from her walks, she often came back with a young bird or rabbit in her hand, speaking softly to it, being sure it understood."

In her biography of Charlotte, Elizabeth Gaskell shared a story about Emily scolding her favorite dog, Keeper, for sleeping "on the delicate white cover" that was on a bed in the Parsonage. Gaskell said that Emily hit him with her hands until his eyes "swelled up" and he became "half-blind." The following description of Emily and Keeper's connection contradicts this well-known tale:

Emily's close friend and admirer, the old dog Keeper, seems to understand her like a human. One evening, during a cozy get-together in the sitting room with the four friends, Keeper squeezed between Charlotte and Emily, and he climbed onto Emily's lap. When he realized there wasn't enough space, he shifted forward and settled comfortably on the guest's knees.

Emily's constant companionship won her heart, and she didn't realize that her close connection to Keeper was the reason she gave in to his desires. Emily would sometimes enjoy showing off Keeper, imitating a lion's roar and making him act excited. This was a strange sight inside a regular living room. During Emily's funeral, Keeper mourned solemnly and never seemed to overcome his sadness.

Eva Hope, in Queens of Literature of the Victorian Era (1886), describes Emily's character as "a mix of being shy and very brave, like a Spartan." According to Hope, Emily was remarkably brave, even though she was extremely shy. She didn't have many close connections, but the ones she did have were intensely loyal and unselfish. Emily was kind and understanding of others' faults, but she was strict with herself, always staying true to her sense of duty."

People have described Emily Brontë as a rebel, a visionary "mystic of the moors," and a devoted but somewhat unconventional Christian.

Wuthering Heights

The first two parts of a three-part collection, which also included Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey, were published in London in 1847 by Thomas Cautley Newby. Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights was part of this set. Emily's real name wasn't revealed until 1850 when a new version with changes was published, and her name was put on the cover. Originally, the authors were listed as Ellis and Acton Bell. Critics found the novel's unique structure a bit confusing.

People in Victorian times and early reviewers thought Wuthering Heights was written by a man because of its violence and passion. Juliet Gardiner says, "Reviewers were amazed, confused, and shocked by the intense sexual passion and powerful language and images." Thomas Joudrey, a literary critic, adds more to this reaction, saying, "After reading Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, they expected a serious coming-of-age story, but instead, they were surprised and confused by a tale of wild, uncontrollable emotions, full of savage cruelty and outright barbarism."

The book became a classic in English literature, even though it got criticized for showing immoral desire and got mixed reviews when it first came out. Sadly, Emily Brontë passed away at the age of thirty, just a year after her only book was published, so she couldn't see how popular it became.

Emily started writing a second novel, but nobody has found the manuscript, despite a letter from her publisher suggesting she was working on it. Maybe, when Emily got sick and couldn't finish it, she or someone in her family got rid of it. Another possibility is that the letter was meant for Anne Brontë, who was already working on her second book, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

Death

The harsh weather and the unhealthy conditions at home, where water was contaminated by the church cemetery, probably added to Emily's poor health. On Sunday, September 24, 1848, Branwell passed away unexpectedly. One week later, during his memorial service, Emily caught a bad cold that quickly turned into lung inflammation and eventually tuberculosis. She didn't want any medical help, even as she got sicker, saying she wouldn't have a "poisoning doctor" around. On the morning of December 19, 1848, Charlotte wrote out of concern for her sister:

She is becoming weaker every day. The doctor's advice was confusing, and he sent her some medicine, but she refused to take it. I pray to God for help for all of us because these are very sad times I've never faced before.

Emily was even worse around midday, hardly able to speak, just gasping. The last thing she could be heard saying to Charlotte was, "If you will send for a doctor, I will see him now," but it was already too late. At 2:00 PM on the same day, she passed away. According to Emily's early biographer Mary Robinson, Emily was sitting on the sofa when it happened. However, this claim is unlikely, given Charlotte's letter to William Smith Williams, where she talks about Emily's dog, Keeper, resting at her deathbed.

Martha Brown, the housemaid, said that "Miss Emily died of a broken heart for love of her brother" less than three months after Branwell's passing. Emily's coffin was only 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide because she had become so thin. The carpenter mentioned he had never made one narrower for an adult. Her bones were placed in the family vault in St. Michael and All Angels' Church in Haworth.

Legacy

The Unthanks, an English folk group, created a trilogy of short CDs called Lines, featuring musical arrangements of Charlotte Brontë's writings. Adrian McNally played the group's Regency-era piano during the recording, which happened at the Brontës' rectory.

In the 2019 movie How to Build a Girl, historical figures on Johanna's wall collage include Emily and Charlotte Brontë.

Rare books and manuscripts collected by Rochdale mill owners Alfred and William Law reappeared in May 2021 after being hidden for almost a century. The collection includes handwritten poetry by Emily Brontë and the Brontë family copy of Bewick's 'History of British Birds.' The collection, expected to fetch £1 million at auction, was set to be sold at Sotheby's.

The 1946 movie Devotion presented a highly fictionalized version of the Brontë sisters' lives.

In Frances O'Connor's 2022 film Emily, Emma Mackey plays Emily in a story set before the publication of Wuthering Heights. The movie mixes real biographical details with made-up situations and relationships. Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo turned some of Emily Brontë's poems into music for piano, string orchestra, and SATB chorus. The San Francisco Choral Society commissioned and premiered the work in a series of concerts in Oakland and San Francisco.

Works

In 1831, Charlotte went to Miss Wooler's school at Roe Head, near Huddersfield, and stayed there for a year. During this time, she made several lifelong friends. Much of what we know about her life comes from her communication with one of her friends, Ellen Nussey, which continued until Charlotte's death. In 1832, she left the school to educate her sisters at home, but she returned to Roe Head as a teacher in 1835.

The only way she could express her unmet desires was by wanting to improve her family's position. Additionally, Branwell was planning to pursue a career as an artist, so increasing the family's income became essential. Charlotte didn't enjoy the work because it had unavoidable restrictions. She ended her commitment in the summer of 1838 due to poor health and sadness.

A few months later, Charlotte declined a proposal from another young clergyman. In 1839, she also turned down a proposal from her friend's brother, Reverend Henry Nussey. At the same time, Charlotte felt the need to work as the Whites' governess for a few months at Upperwood House, Rawdon. This was driven by her desire to use her skills to the fullest and to settle Branwell's obligations.