Weekend Writing: Celebrating Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte (photo/Pinterest)

There are very few classic British authors who have withstood the test of time quite like the Bronte sisters. Charlotte, Emily, and Anne wrote some of the most widely read works of British literature, and I believe readers will continue to cherish the sisters' writing for many decades (and centuries) to come.

In April, I celebrated Charlotte's birthday. Now, it's Emily's turn. Tomorrow, July 30, is the 200th anniversary of her birthday. Emily was born on July 30, 1818, in Thorton, West Riding of Yorkshire. She was the fifth of six children. After her mother passed away from cancer in 1824, their father, Patrick Bronte, sent Charlotte and their two older sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, to the Clergy Daughters' School. Emily was only three years old at the time, and she was separated from her older sisters.

Three years later, when Emily was six years old, she was sent to the school for a short period of time. When a typhoid epidemic spread throughout the school, Emily's oldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, contracted the disease. The Bronte sisters were sent home, and Maria and Elizabeth died shortly after.

The three remaining sisters--Charlotte, Emily, and Anne--and the Bronte's only son, Patrick Branwell (nicknamed Branwell), were then homeschooled by their father and their aunt. During her youth, Emily was known as a shy girl. She loved her siblings and followed them everywhere. She was known to be a great animal lover, befriending any stray dogs wandering around the English countryside.

The Bronte family (photo/History Extra).

During their free time, the siblings began to write fiction stories at home. They created fictional worlds together and quickly became a dynamic quartet--the four of them all gifted with a talent for writing and dreaming of imaginative worlds far different than their reality.

When Emily was just 13 years old, she teamed up with Anne to create their own separate world called Gondal, a fictional island whose myths and legends preoccupied the sisters throughout their teenage years. The fictional world inspired Emily's poems and early writings.

The Bronte siblings were talented, and it's important to note that Branwell's short story, The Life of Alexander Percy, which tells the story of how Alexander Percy and his wife had such a deep love for each other that their love eventually becomes self-destructive, was the inspiration for Emily's famous novel, Wuthering Heights. 

Emily Bronte (photo/JustCollecting)

When Emily was 17 years old, she was sent to the Roe Head Girls' School, where Charlotte taught. Emily only stayed for a few months before becoming severely homesick. She returned home and Anne took her place at the school. Emily didn't want to study at a school; instead, she wanted to open her own school. Pretty ambitious, don't you think?

However, this didn't happen. Instead, Emily became a teacher at Law Hill School in Halifax when she was 20 years old. The stress from working 17-hour work days became too much for her and she eventually returned home, where she became a stay-at-home daughter for her father and aunt--cooking, cleaning, ironing, and more.

During this time, Emily learned German because she knew she wanted to join Charlotte in traveling to Brussels, Belgium, and they eventually did to attend a girls' academy. Emily wasn't comfortable at the school, but the experience allowed her to write at least nine essays about her visit. The sisters returned home to their father when their aunt passed away. In 1844, they tried to open their own school at the home, but they were unable to attract any students.

That's when the sisters decided to focus on their writing, and I mean really focus. Emily began reviewing the poems she had written and revised them. Charlotte discovered Emily's pile of poems and insisted she try to publish them. Emily, however, was furious that her privacy was invaded, and refused until Anne returned home and presented her own poems. Because Anne and Emily wrote stories together during their teenage years, Anne's confession that she was writing poems, as well, convinced Emily to publish her work. Thank goodness for Anne!

The Bronte sisters (photo/Daily Express).

In 1846, the Bronte sisters self-published a joint poetry collection under the pen names Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. The pen names kept the sisters' sex as a secret (because women couldn't possibly be writers in the mid-1800s), but the pen names preserved their initials--Charlotte as Currer, Emily as Ellis, and Anne as Acton.

Only two copies of the collection were sold, but the sisters didn't give up on their writing. One reader was particularly pleased with "Ellis Bell's work," praising the poetry for its music and rhythmic power--singling Emily's poems as the best of her sisters. That was enough for Emily to start writing more works--including a novel, which became Wuthering Heights. 

Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights"
(photo/ReadinEnglish).

Wuthering Heights was first published in London in 1847, appearing as the first two volumes of a three-volume set that included Anne Bronte's famous novel, Agnes Grey. Emily didn't want to neglect her younger sister. The sisters still used the pen names Ellis and Acton; Emily's real name didn't appear with her writing until 1850.

Wuthering Heights was praised in London for its violence and passion. To many critics, the novel's vivid sexual passion, powerful language, and dynamic imagery impressed, bewildered, and appalled readers. The book became an English literary classic. Unfortunately, Emily never knew the extent of her book's success, and her overall success as a writer, because she died a year after the novel's publication in 1848.

Emily's health began to weaken, mostly from her poor living conditions. The water near her house was contaminated by runoff from a church's graveyard. The Bronte's brother, Branwell, died suddenly on September 24, 1848. At his funeral, Emily caught a severe cold, which then developed into an inflammation of the lungs and led to tuberculosis. As her condition worsened, she rejected all medical help--not wanting a "poisoning doctor" near her.

Emily Bronte (photo/eBooks@Adelaide)

On the morning of December 19, 1848, Emily's condition was even worse and she finally agreed to see a doctor. Her last words were, "If you will send for a doctor, I will see him now." But, it was too late. Emily passed away that afternoon with her precious dog, Keeper, by her side. She was only 30 years old. Emily's housemaid once wrote that Emily died from a broken heart "for the love of her brother."

Emily was writing a second novel at the time of her death, but it was never finished and the manuscript was never found. Emily's legacy remains that she wrote one great novel, Wuthering Heights, but she wrote perhaps one of the best novels in British literary history. People still read Emily's greatest work every year, and continue to fall in love with the author's writing.

It would have been amazing to see what she would have accomplished if she hadn't died so young. What else would she have written? But, instead of dwelling on what we don't have, let's celebrate what we do have: a beautiful novel about pain, love, and the strong ties between soul mates.

Happy 200th birthday, Emily Bronte. Thanks for providing one of the most important literary works ever written, even during your short life. You're much loved and appreciated today.

-KJL-