Life. Poem by Charlotte Brontë

Описание

Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) was an English poet and novelist best known for her novel, Jane Eyre. She was the eldest of the three Bronte sisters whose contributions to Victorian fiction quietly revolutionized the 19th century novel.

Born at Thornton, Yorkshire, Charlotte was the third child of Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell. In 1820, her father received a curate post in Haworth and the family moved there where a year later, Mrs. Brontë died from cancer. Charlotte and her four sisters, Maria, Elizabeth, Emily and Anne, and their brother, Branwell, were raised primarily by their maiden aunt, Elizabeth Branwell. When a school for the daughters of poor clergymen opened at Cowan Bridge in 1824, Mr. Brontë decided to send his older four daughters there to receive a formal education. Charlotte's sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, died in 1824 of tuberculosis they contracted due to the poor management of the school. Following this tragedy, Patrick withdrew Charlotte and Emily from Cowan Bridge. Grieving over their sisters' deaths and searching for a way to alleviate their loneliness, the remaining four siblings began writing a series of stories stimulated by a set of toy soldiers their father had given them.

After her father had a dangerous lung disorder, he decided once again that his daughters should receive an education so they would be assured of an income if he died. In 1831, Charlotte entered the school at Roe Head. Shy and solitary, Charlotte was not happy at school. Although she was offered a teaching job at Roe Head, Charlotte declined the position, choosing to return to Haworth instead. Perhaps bored with the solitary life at Haworth, Charlotte returned to Roe Head in 1835 as a governess. She didn’t enjoy the job and finally, following a near mental breakdown in 1838, she was forced to resign. Because the family needed the money, Charlotte suffered through two more unhappy governess positions.

In an attempt to create a job that would allow her to maintain her independence, Charlotte formed the idea of starting her own school at Haworth. To increase her teaching qualifications, she enrolled as a student, at the age of twenty-six, at the Pensionnat Heger in Brussels so she could increase her fluency in French and learn German. While there, Charlotte formed an intense, though one-sided, passion for the married headmaster at the school: Monsieur Heger. After two years in Brussels, suffering perhaps from her love for Heger, Charlotte returned to England. The plan to open her own school was a failure as she was unable to attract a single student. Instead, Charlotte began putting all of her energy into her writing.

After discovering Emily's poems, Charlotte decided that she, Anne, and Emily should try to publish a collection of poems at their own expense. In 1846, they accomplished this goal, using the masculine pseudonyms of Currer, Acton, and Ellis Bell. Although their book, Poems, was not a financial success, the women continued their literary endeavors. Excited to be writing full-time, they each began a novel. Anne's Agnes Grey and Emily's Wuthering Heights both found publishers, but Charlotte's somewhat autobiographical account of her experiences in Brussels, The Professor, was rejected by several publishers. Again refusing to become discouraged, Charlotte began writing Jane Eyre in 1846, while on a trip to Manchester with her father where he was undergoing cataract surgery. The firm of Smith, Elder, and Company agreed to publish the resulting novel, and the first edition of Jane Eyre was released on October 16, 1847. The novel was an instant success, launching Charlotte into literary fame. But the pleasures of literary success were soon overshadowed by family tragedy. Never living up to his family's high expectations, Branwell, died an opium-addicted, debauched, alcoholic failure in September 1848. A couple of months later, Emily died of tuberculosis and Anne’s death of the same disease followed soon after.

Left alone with her father, Charlotte was devastated but continued to write. 'Shirley' was published in 1849. In 1852, the Reverend Arthur B. Nicholls, Mr. Brontë's curate at Haworth, proposed marriage to Charlotte. Though she didn’t immediately accept, the couple got married in 1854. In the early stages of her pregnancy in 1855, Charlotte caught pneumonia and after a lengthy and painful illness, passed away one month shy of her thirty-ninth birthday.

As a woman whose life was beset with pain and bereavement, it is astounding how Charlotte was able to produce such majestic works. As Claire Harman observes in her book ‘Charlotte Bronte: A Fiery Heart’: “Charlotte Brontë was essentially a poet of suffering— she understood every corner of it, dwelt both on and in it. In life, this propensity was a chronic burden; in her art, she let it speak to and comfort millions of others.”


Music Credits: Teatime by Ofshane



#poem #life #charlottebronte #hope #Brontesisters