Bronte, Emily (1818-1848)

Emily Bronte, born Haworth, Yorkshire 1818; died Haworth 1848.

Emily remains the most enigmatic of the Brontes, an impression only deepened by her only substantial novel Wuthering Heights.  Wuthering Heights, released in the same year as her sister Charlotte's Jane Eyre, enjoyed nothing like the success, and indeed met ïncomprehension as readers were not prepared for the levels of violence, the forthright language, or the sheer technical brilliance of the book. Emily's response to her apparent lack of success, like so much of her character, remains enigmatic.  It was only after her death that it became widely considered a masterpiece.

She is now also recognised as one of the most original poets of the century, e.g. ('The night is darkening around me), for her passionate invocations from the world of Gondal ('Remembrance', The Prisoner'), and her apparently more personal 'visionary moments ('No coward soul is mine').

`No coward soul is mine,

No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere:

I see heaven's glories shine,

And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.'

No Coward Soul is Mine by Emily Bronte

Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Sixth edition, Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 137-138

Payne, Tom. "Bronte, Emily." A-Z of Great Writers, Carlton Books, 1997, p. 54

Library Resources
eReserve
AV Resources
Web Resources

Library Resources

On the shelves

Wuthering Heights

eBooks

Biography

Criticism and interpretation

Reference resources

Collection highlights

Study notes

Wuthering Heights

eReserve

Articles

Poems

AV Resources

DVD

  • The classic black & white 1939 adaptation of Wuthering Heights by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by William Wyler; starring Laurence Olivier, Merle Oberon and David Niven

YouTube

Web Resources

Online Study Notes

Online Movies

General

Wuthering Heights

Emily's poetry

Article Appears in: