Emily Bronte is one third of perhaps the most successful literary family in British history. Along with her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, she created a legacy that ensured the name Bronte would be remembered. Emily has consistently been labelled the greatest writer of the three.
Emily Jane Bronte was born in Thornton in Yorkshire, England on July 30th, 1818. She was one of six children born to Reverend Patrick Bronte and his wife, Maria. Fifth of six children, Emily’s siblings were Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Patrick Branwell and Anne.
The one event that dictated the course of Emily Bronte’s life was the death of her mother in 1921. Emily was just three at the time. She spent her unhappy childhood reading rather than playing, and often created imaginary worlds with her brother and sisters to escape the harshness of reality.
Along with younger sister Anne, Emily began her literary career at an early age. They created the fictional world of Gondal and wrote poetry and stories about it into the 1840s. Few of these stories now survive.
Emily attended the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge in 1824/5 with sisters Maria, Elizabeth and Charlotte. All three were removed after being subjected to cold rooms, poor food and a generally harsh regime. Emily was then educated by her father at home until the age of 17.
Emily did attempt to attend school again, this time at Roe Head, Dewesbury in 1835. This foray into the world outside of Haworth, the family home, was as brief as her stay in Cowan Bridge. After three months there, Emily, suffering from homesickness, returned home.
Emily’s limited experience outside of both Haworth and her imagination was in education. She spent six month as a governess at Law Hill near Halifax, where she worked long hours for little pay, and then travelled to Brussels with Charlotte to learn foreign languages and school management in 1942. The sisters planned to run their own school, but, although she excelled in class, Emily stayed in Brussels for less than a year before returning home.
Emily made few friends throughout her life, instead preferring to retreat into the imaginary world that she had written about since childhood. Charlotte’s intrusion into that world upon finding her writings in 1845 caused Emily great distress. However, it was also this incident that led to the initial publication of her work.
After initial resistance to the idea, and a certain amount of editing of her poetry, Emily agreed to publish her work alongside that of her sisters, Anne and Charlotte. Twenty-one of her poems appeared in the book, known simply asPoems, by Acton, Ellis and Currer Bell. The sisters used the pseudonyms in an attempt to sound masculine, as was common practice for female authors in the 1800s.
Upon its May 1846 publication, Poems, only sold two copies. Her one and only novel, Wuthering Heights, also received few critical plaudits. Instead, it received almost entirely negative criticism following its release in 1847. It was deemed too shocking to read.
However, following Emily’s death, Wuthering Heights became known as an intense and passionate literary masterpiece. It follows the romantic saga of Heathcliffe and Cathy, two of literature’s most famous characters. The moorland of Haworth and her childhood provided the unforgettably dark and powerful scenery that helped make this book famous.
Although well-known for her one and only novel, Emily’s poetry reinforced her reputation. Poems such as ‘My Imagination’ and ‘Last Lines’, which were included in Poems, are now widely reprinted. It was thought that Emily had written a second novel, but that Charlotte had destroyed it after her death.
In September 1848, Emily attended the funeral of her brother, Patrick Branwell. Having caught a cold at the funeral her health began to decline alarmingly. In keeping with her anti-social nature, she refused to see a doctor.
Emily Bronte died on December 19th, 1848 of tuberculosis. She was aged just 30.
Emily’s fame grew after her death. Wuthering Heights was reissued in 1850 with Charlotte penning the foreword and proved a major success. Numerous editions of her complete poems have also been released. As a result, Emily Bronte is truly one of the great figures in English Literature.
