British Literature Survey
Reference Pages: Brontë Sisters Group

Emily Brontë’s Poetry
by Jeremy Houck

Emily Bronte wrote her poetry in between household chores, and she did not intend for her poems to be published. Eventually, the first volume of Emily Bronte’s poetry, Poems of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, was published in 1846. This collection contained 21 of Emily’s poems, and it only sold two copies despite positive reviews from two critics. Much like Emily’s novel, Wuthering Heights, her collection of poems did not receive immediate recognition, but in time her poetry is noticed as some of the best in English literature. A complete collection of Emily’s poetry was compiled in 1941 in Poems of Jane Emily Brontë by C. W. Hatfield, which contains 193 complete and fragmented poems. Her poetry is about common, universal experience as well as distinctive moments in life, and it often contains Gothic characteristics. Traditional ballads, the Byronic hero, and Wordsworth’s imaginative description of nature contributed in influencing Emily’s poetry. Her poetry can be separated into two groups, writing of the Gondal, which she created as a child, and untitled writing. It is a general consensus that Emily wrote a great deal of bad or uneventful poetry which is connected with the fictional kingdom of Gondal, so her place in the poetic cannon has been minimal.

Works Cited

Dingle, Herbert. The Mind of Emily Brontë. London: Martin Brian & O’Keeffe, 1974.

Pykett, Lyn. Emily Brontë. Savage. Maryland: Barnes & Noble Books, 1989.

Robinson, A. Mary F. Emily Brontë. London: W. H. Allen and Co., 1883.

Smith, Anne. The Art of Emily Brontë. London: Vision Press Limited, 1976.

Spark, Muriel and Stanford, Derek. Emily Brontë Her Life and Work. London: Peter Owen Limited.

Paul Marchbanks
marchban@email.unc.edu