Category Archives: Poets

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth Barrett Browning!

Blog, Poets, True Love, ,

I was thinking of Elizabeth Barrett Browning last night. It’s probably because as she got older as a single maid, she got more ill, but she managed to go on with her work and eventually found true love. I wrote her a note last night/this morning. I decided just to do a little research and read she was born March 6!

So of course, I’ll have to include that birthday note to her!

I still can’t believe it! I was writing today thinking I should post my note, and I was determined after I discovered it was Mrs. Browning’s birthday!

Letter

EBB~

Elizabeth Barrett Browning-I keep you in mind as I age. Maybe when I’m 40, I’ll be married, but if not, what can I do? I’m not married yet or have your talent, and so it’s depressing. You had a lot going for you, but I bet it was hard. I have spinal and head problems myself. Perhaps I’m…of what was I going to say? No, I won’t ever know your genius or exact pain, but somehow you give me inspiration and my heart reaches out to you because you triumphed when it came to love. No one ever could have predicted what you ended up doing–eloping with such a seemingly eccentric poet. Maybe your husband eloping with someone–but not you! It’s cool that he took a chance on a 35-plus-year-old woman.

Birthday wishes,

~A 35+ woman 

P.S. Upon further research, I’ve discovered just how much you fought for causes with all you had. So it’s not surprising that when you found the one, you went for it. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her husband, Robert Browning

Further Thoughts

I noticed I lost my thoughts in the middle of the letter. I really might be getting senile.

Anyway, I don’t have enough thoughts presently to even write a poem, but hopefully Elizabeth Barrett Browning would think this post is good enough.

Happy birthday, Mrs. Browning!

Images

Birthday cake image from pixabay.com, public domain.

Photograph of EBB and Robert Browning, public domain.

Engraving EBB, engraved by Thomas Oldhan Brown, public domain.

The Austen Vs. Barrett Sisters

Blog, Poets, Sisters, True Love, , , , ,

Sisters.

One sister was near marriage but outside forces dashed those hopes. Her writer-sister had a proposal of marriage and….

How will such a story end?

The Austens

Cassandra’s fiance  worked in order for them to get married. He went on a military mission but died after he caught yellow fever in 1797. Cassandra now had some money, but no man to share it with. She never married.

Then we all know Jane.

CassandraAusten-JaneAusten(c.1810)_hiresParties, balls, humor, but never she seemed to find Mr. Right. She briefly accepted a proposal in 1802. The man was financially secured and perhaps it would have been perfect if she loved him. She didn’t and soon declined.  One portrayal of possible romances include Becoming Jane.

The Barretts

Henrietta could have been a character out of an Austen novel—was religious but determined to have fun and find romance at balls and parties. It seemed marriage was in her grasp at one point, but  any suitor was kicked out of her life by her father.

Mr. Barrett would never let his children marry.

Elizabeth couldn’t spend time outside like she used to, but kept contact with her family, friends, and intellectuals through  correspondences and others visiting her.  Her mind was active, but felt close to death till fellow poet Robert Browning showed intense interest in her.Elizabeth-Barrett-Browning,_Poetical_Works_Volume_I,_engraving One of the sonnets she wrote during their courtship starts:

“My future will not copy fair my past.”

The sonnet talks about the new life she feels like she’s been given. She can’t go back to the past where she thought love was lost.

Elizabeth couldn’t make the same mistakes other did. She had to be stealthier than Henrietta. And unlike Jane, Elizabeth had the means to support herself and was in love with a man who loved her. But could Elizabeth back out at the proposal of marriage from Robert? Would she find enough strength to go through with the marriage?

She did. She eloped with Robert Browning to Italy in 1846.. Elizabeth’s father disowned her but she continued to compose poems.

Now what of Henrietta?

Could she find true love? Even if she did, could she find a way to marry?

Four years after her sister eloped, Henrietta married a Captain William Cook.  Like Elizabeth, she too was disowned by her father.

We don’t know much about Henrietta but we know she displayed gumption. Some of that gumption is portrayed in, The Barretts of Wimpole Street.

Though the Barrett sisters could afford marriage, could they be indebted to the Austen sisters who gave some do’s and don’ts when it came to marriage and love?

P.S. And which film is better–Becoming Jane or The Barretts of Wimpole Street?

Sources:
http://www.browningscorrespondence.com/biographical-sketches/?id=977
wikipedia.org
Pictures:
"The Two Sisters" by Henri Fantin-Latour
Portrait of Jane Austen by Cassandra Austen
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Engraving September, 1859,      by Macaire Havre, engraving by T. O. Barlow

Poet Profile: Princess Marie-Therese of France

French Revolution, Poets, Royalty, , , , , ,

Marie-Therese did not like to think of the time she spent in the cell and would not like to be remembered for being a prisoner in it for so long. Hopefully, she wouldn’t mind being regarded as an example on how to deal with loneliness and painful circumstances.

In an earlier article, I wrote about her aunt Elisabeth helping her find ways to cope and what to do when she was completely alone. Her aunt advised her to keep quiet around guards, When Marie-Therese was alone and needed to voice her frustrations, she turned to writing. Writing was a means of survival. She called herself “the most unhappy creature in the world.” No matter how depressing her writings, writing kept her from going totally insane.

Reading Treasures: A Retreat for Everything Marie Antoinette  included a translation of some of Marie-Therese’s poetry in their post called  “I was your king’s daughter:the poetry of Marie Therese Charlotte in captivity” Her poem “I Was Your King’s Daughter” was found in a book kept by  family of Madeleine Bocquet-Chanterenne. The translation in English reads:

I was your king’s daughter
separated from all my family.
I languish in this sad jail
Alas! I say with good reason
Even though I am alone and sad
My jail would appear happy to me
If I was in this place with my brother.
—
To my mother, to the Conciergerie
I asked to be reunited
But as an answer, my jailers
Say: this has nothing to do with us.
Spread your blessings on her,
God! Open promptly your jail.
—
A short time ago, at night
I was sleeping peacefully in my bed.
I got suddenly woken up
By the enraged noise of my locks.
They were coming to my door, they were knocking.
I replied immediately: who is there?
I was asked to open up, I replied:
I am getting up and leaving my bed.
I was hoping that I would get out,
I was expecting to leave the tower.
I go to the door, I finally open it!
They come in with my jailer
I look at them, hoping they would ask me
to follow them and come.
But alas! They stare at me
And suddenly without saying a word, they go out with my jailer.
This poem makes me want to go back in time and say to the teenager that she’ll make it out alive. It was a horrible ordeal but she kept fighting.
This poem also shows it’s important for schools to let their students write poetry. I taught a little English class after school. There was so much material that needed to be covered, I didn’t think about poetry that much. After the last day (when the students actually wrote a poem), I regretted that I hadn’t incorporated  more poetry into the lessons.  Writing poetry wasn’t an academic requirement but I think it would have helped the children more with problems outside of school.
Portrait of Marie Thérèse of France (1778-1851) by Heinrich Fuger 
The sole survivor.

Portrait of Marie Thérèse of France by Heinrich Furger.

Poet Profile: Rachel Bluwstein

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Rachel Bluwstein was born on September 20, 1890 in Russia. She lived in Ukraine, Palestine, France, and Israel. She was a Zionist pioneer and a Renaissance woman of sorts. She drew, painted, worked in agriculture, taught school, and is remembered for her lyrical, yet right-to-the-point poetry.

With with friend, Avraham Cahanowitz

With friend, Avraham Cahanowitz

For thousands of years, Hebrew poetry was dominated by males. The last known Hebrew woman poet was Deborah, a judge in ancient Israel.  Due to illness, Rachel lived in isolation toward the end of her life. She kept some correspondence and saw people here and there, but for the most part felt very lonely.  She died in 1931 at age 40 and is considered the “founding mother” of Hebrew poetry written by women. Many of her poems have been set to songs.  Her Michal poem will be in my book:

“Michal”

“And Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David

And she despised him in her heart”

Michal, distant sister, time’s thread has not been severed,

time’s thorns in your sad vineyard have not prevailed.

Still in my ear I hear the tinkling of your gold anklet,

the stripes in your silk garment have not paled.

Often I have seen you standing by your small window

pride and tenderness mingling in your eyes.

Like you I am sad, O Michal, distant sister, and like you doomed to

love a man whom I despise.

(1927, Israel. Translated by Robert Friend; taken from her book Flowers of Perhaps.)

 

It’s somewhat poetic justice that Rachel the Poetess, the founding mother of modern Israeli poetry, identified with the woman who married the sweet psalmist of Israel.

What do you think of that, David?

 

Photos gathered by deror_avi on wiki commons