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Dared & Done: The Marriage of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning
A dual biography of two great nineteenth-century British poets discusses their courtship, marriage, and literary work in terms of the mores, institutions, and events of the Victorian era
390 pages, Paperback
First published January 31, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
January 30, 2015
It's almost impossible to think of either Elizabeth Barrett or Robert Browning without the other. They come as a pair, two of Victorian England's premier poets, famous as much for their romantic mid-life marriage as for their poetry. In Sonnets from the Portuguese, Elizabeth's most famous and enduring work, the two entwine. 'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.'
A secret romance conducted largely through letters, under the nose of Elizabeth's domineering and tyrannical father, who refused to allow any of his children to marry and exiled them from the family should they dare; a secret marriage when Elizabeth was forty years old and considered by all on the verge of death; disinherited by her father, to whom she never spoke again, and rejected by her brothers; a romantic elopement to Italy, where she became the voice of a revolution and raised her son as a true Tuscan patriot - what romance! It is no wonder the story has captured the imagination through the years.
This isn't a perfect book, by any means. Julia Markus' style of writing is more romantic than I'm used to in straight biography, more whimsical and narrative-driven than fact-based. But perhaps that's the approach to take, when effectively writing the biography of a romance. This is not a biography of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, but the story of their marriage, so perhaps a little hyperbole, a little bit of breathless prose, doesn't necessarily hurt. It made it an enjoyable read, certainly - although those looking for a more academic approach would be advised to avoid it.
A secret romance conducted largely through letters, under the nose of Elizabeth's domineering and tyrannical father, who refused to allow any of his children to marry and exiled them from the family should they dare; a secret marriage when Elizabeth was forty years old and considered by all on the verge of death; disinherited by her father, to whom she never spoke again, and rejected by her brothers; a romantic elopement to Italy, where she became the voice of a revolution and raised her son as a true Tuscan patriot - what romance! It is no wonder the story has captured the imagination through the years.
This isn't a perfect book, by any means. Julia Markus' style of writing is more romantic than I'm used to in straight biography, more whimsical and narrative-driven than fact-based. But perhaps that's the approach to take, when effectively writing the biography of a romance. This is not a biography of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, but the story of their marriage, so perhaps a little hyperbole, a little bit of breathless prose, doesn't necessarily hurt. It made it an enjoyable read, certainly - although those looking for a more academic approach would be advised to avoid it.
March 28, 2013
Two beautiful biographies, and one of the best love stories ever, of the marriage and relationship between Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning during the Victorian period of the 19th century.
Defying her tyrannical father and despite her poor health, Elizabeth Barrett secretly married Robert Browning in 1846 after an intense courtship, and fled to Europe. Over the next 15 years in Italy she gave birth to one son, Pen, and had 4 miscarriages. This book chronicles their union, drawing on their copious correspondence including many of Elizabeth's unpublished letters. Setting out to cast new light on the life and work of the pair, it shows how political events of the times inspired their poetry. Delving into their Creole background, it examines Elizabeth's belief that she had "African blood", as well as the Browning family had ties to the British West Indies and had various African relatives. It also explores the couple's friendships with writer's Tennyson, Thackeray, and Rossetti. As well as sculptors William Story and Harriet Hosmer. In 1861, Elizabeth died in her husband's arms. Browning never remarried in his remaining 28 years.
Defying her tyrannical father and despite her poor health, Elizabeth Barrett secretly married Robert Browning in 1846 after an intense courtship, and fled to Europe. Over the next 15 years in Italy she gave birth to one son, Pen, and had 4 miscarriages. This book chronicles their union, drawing on their copious correspondence including many of Elizabeth's unpublished letters. Setting out to cast new light on the life and work of the pair, it shows how political events of the times inspired their poetry. Delving into their Creole background, it examines Elizabeth's belief that she had "African blood", as well as the Browning family had ties to the British West Indies and had various African relatives. It also explores the couple's friendships with writer's Tennyson, Thackeray, and Rossetti. As well as sculptors William Story and Harriet Hosmer. In 1861, Elizabeth died in her husband's arms. Browning never remarried in his remaining 28 years.
July 21, 2022
This is a fascinating - and romantic! - tale of a great love between two passionate readers and writers. The history of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's struggle with an oppressive father and chronic disease is compelling - as is her eventual escape from that and her ensuing years with her great and one true love. I found it especially interesting to read about the pervasive infectious disease of the era after the past few pandemic years. Highly recommend!
May 1, 2009
We enter the story through the sealed Victorian world of the Barretts. Elizabeth, at thirty-nine, a poet of international fame, a child prodigy who had grown to be a middle-aged spinster, a woman for whom romantic love seemed not to be possible, confined by illness, morphine, and the tyranny of her father.
Waiting for what she perceived to be her imminent death, she meets Robert Browning and the two fall in love. Her realization of this love is encapsulated in the first sonnet from "Sonnets from the Potruguese" where she relates that "a mystic shape" appears to her "Behind me, and drew me backwards by the hair; And a voice said in mastery while I strove,...'Guess now who holds thee?' - "Death!' I said, But there the silver answer rang...'Not Death, but Love'."
These are my favorite lines from the sonnets. Knowing Elizabeth's story brings into focus the context in which she wrote her poetry and leads to a better understanding of the words set therein.
Both Elizabeth and Robert believed that romantic love was a fantasy. In their meeting, they found in each other just that love that they believed to be impossible. A concept to which I can certainly relate.
I have never been much for poetry, but this book enlightened me and made me understand at least the works of EBB. Robert is next on my list of poets to explore.
Waiting for what she perceived to be her imminent death, she meets Robert Browning and the two fall in love. Her realization of this love is encapsulated in the first sonnet from "Sonnets from the Potruguese" where she relates that "a mystic shape" appears to her "Behind me, and drew me backwards by the hair; And a voice said in mastery while I strove,...'Guess now who holds thee?' - "Death!' I said, But there the silver answer rang...'Not Death, but Love'."
These are my favorite lines from the sonnets. Knowing Elizabeth's story brings into focus the context in which she wrote her poetry and leads to a better understanding of the words set therein.
Both Elizabeth and Robert believed that romantic love was a fantasy. In their meeting, they found in each other just that love that they believed to be impossible. A concept to which I can certainly relate.
I have never been much for poetry, but this book enlightened me and made me understand at least the works of EBB. Robert is next on my list of poets to explore.
July 26, 2011
This is an engaging biography of their courtship and marriage. I was amazed to see how deep was their love of each other, how deeply they got into each others’ minds and emotions, and yet how they did not manipulate or dominate. And the book is written with depth and perspective. Also interesting was what the book revealed of Victorian lifestyle and mindset. There was a strong letter-writing tradition that was replete with hyperbole. The use of prescription narcotics including morphine was at least somewhat common. Fainting (of course) was common. Also, it was not uncommon for one family to give a child to another person. The quality of woman-to-woman relationships surprised me. History and politics are reported just enough to give needed background in order to understand the lives of the Brownings.
August 24, 2008
I was so delighted by the outrageous events surrounding the weird courtship and marriage of this talented couple that I couldn't put this book down until I saw them safely married, traipsing around Italy and Paris with baby in tow. Then, to my surprise, I became incurably bored with it. That was just a few days ago, but to tell you the truth, I can't find that book anywhere.
Anyway, I highly recommend the book on the merits of the first half alone. A really neat story.
Anyway, I highly recommend the book on the merits of the first half alone. A really neat story.
February 4, 2013
A thoughtful and compelling account of the Barrett-Browning marriage, this made me want to go read some poetry (not something you'll hear me say every day). Elizabeth Barrett seems more vivid than her husband here (perhaps because of the author's extensive use of quotes from her letters), but this was clearly a remarkable marriage between remarkable people. I like how they always seem to have each other's backs, even when they disagree.
September 27, 2019
This book could have been so much better. I think when you have two great poets and their love and marriage under pressing circumstances, the book could have been monumental. Their story is one for the ages. Markus though did a credible job but the events and people just did not jump out for me. The words stayed words. The book was educational for me though.
October 30, 2017
I really enjoyed this biography of a marriage. Quotes from letters are delightful and make me want to read a book of EBB's letters (she's so wry). The author uses history appropriately to understand the individuals involved and her analysis of the psychology of the individuals involved is astute and interesting. Definitely a homerun of a biography. I would read others by Markus.
November 24, 2018
I really loved this book! It is not a dual biography of the two married poets but rather, as the title indicates, a biography of their marriage -- how it came about, how the poets influenced each other before and after marriage, and how, in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's case, she influenced her husband for decades after her death. This was one of my favorite nonfiction reads of 2010.
March 30, 2020
This book tells the story of one of the most peculiar yet heartwarming marriages in literary history: 34-year-old Robert Browning meets the 39-year-old spinster and housebound invalid Elizabeth Barrett, they elope against the wishes of her tyrannical father (who had strangely forbidden all his children from marrying), and move to Italy where they live together for fifteen years in contentment and shared literary passion. During their life in Italy together, they also interacted with prominent statesmen of the country as it moved towards being a unified state, something which I don’t think has been so well known in the English-speaking world.
So many of the day-by-day events can be reconstructed because the Brownings’ correspondence miraculously survives. To a considerable extent, Julia Markus’s book is merely going through this correspondence and arranging all the facts into a narrative order that will entertain readers. However, Markus has also delved into the family histories of both Robert and Elizabeth, which partly means the history of English planters in the Caribbean, which both Brownings were descended from. There is a lot of detail on relationships between slaveowners and their female slaves, because Elizabeth wondered if she had some African blood. Markus is also concerned with giving a more honest and grounded account of the Barrett’s family life, since Rudolf Besier’s hit play from 1930 The Barretts of Wimpole Street has had a lot of influence on how the public thinks of Elizabeth’s upbringing.
While the Brownings’ marriage is such an unusual story, I was not entirely satisfied with this book. The first problem is that Markus starts in media res with Robert’s first visits to Elizabeth. However, both of them were already established poets by this time, and Markus should have given us some background on their lives and work to date. Later, Markus’s style becomes a bit too fast-paced and breathless, and in investigating Elizabeth’s genealogy she inundates the reader with names, making it hard to keep track of who is who.
So many of the day-by-day events can be reconstructed because the Brownings’ correspondence miraculously survives. To a considerable extent, Julia Markus’s book is merely going through this correspondence and arranging all the facts into a narrative order that will entertain readers. However, Markus has also delved into the family histories of both Robert and Elizabeth, which partly means the history of English planters in the Caribbean, which both Brownings were descended from. There is a lot of detail on relationships between slaveowners and their female slaves, because Elizabeth wondered if she had some African blood. Markus is also concerned with giving a more honest and grounded account of the Barrett’s family life, since Rudolf Besier’s hit play from 1930 The Barretts of Wimpole Street has had a lot of influence on how the public thinks of Elizabeth’s upbringing.
While the Brownings’ marriage is such an unusual story, I was not entirely satisfied with this book. The first problem is that Markus starts in media res with Robert’s first visits to Elizabeth. However, both of them were already established poets by this time, and Markus should have given us some background on their lives and work to date. Later, Markus’s style becomes a bit too fast-paced and breathless, and in investigating Elizabeth’s genealogy she inundates the reader with names, making it hard to keep track of who is who.
September 24, 2020
The author has clearly picked an interesting area to discuss, but this book is not nearly as good as it should be, and I found myself deeply disappointed by the way in which the author let her desire to show off her knowledge of historiography and her feminist historical perspective hinder the telling of what should be a compelling tale in the marriage of two great poets, in which there is simply the sufficient quality of fame that only one of them has been well-recognized as a great poet at a time. There is a lesson in the posthumous loss of fame for Elizabeth Barrett Browning and in the posthumous increased reputation for Robert Browning that the author could take as a worthwhile critique of her own worldview, but the author chooses not to take it, and the result is that the book has the strident perspective that one would expect from Elizabeth Barrett Brown's own writing, something that makes her body of work when taken as a whole less compelling than one would want it to be. There is a reason why EBB's poetry that has best survived is her Sonnets of the Portuguese and her loving odes to her pooch, and the occasional other poem of deep personal significance, and that is because her strident and overwrought emotional tone and feminist plugging harms rather than helps her literature and its worth, and that is something that is true in general when it comes to literature.
This book is about 350 pages and is divided into four parts. After a note on transcriptions and an introduction, the first part of the book (I) examines the courtship of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, including how they fell in love over letters and how their marriage was not an elopement, contrary to myth, and how it was that the experience of running away may have inspired EBB's poem about the runaway slave, an odd poem to write on one's honeymoon for sure. The second part of the book then looks at the early experiences of the Barrett's in Italy (II), including what the first few years of marriage were like for both of them individually, and their commitment to Italian politics and the local and expatriate community in Italy. The third part of the book discusses some of the tensions between the two relating to spirituality and the relationship between the couple and the Barrett relatives (III). Finally, the book ends with a discussion of EBB's death, RB's struggle to write poetry and be respected and be a widower father, and even a bit about his late career renaissance (IV), after which there are notes, a selected bibliography, acknowledgements, an index, and illustration credits.
Ultimately, even if this book is deeply flawed, the subject matter of this book conveys enough interest that it is certainly a worthwhile read. For example, the author examines the marriage of EBB and RB from the perspective of both of the partners, and comments on their agreements and disagreements, their shared commitment to Italian unity and liberty, their shared enlightened thinking about a variety of subjects, and even their background relating to creole interests that introduces the question of racial identity and social justice. Naturally, the author takes to themes of politics, racial identity, and social justice like a duke to water, and the theme of the discussion of the marriage is harmed at least somewhat by the length that the author spends to talking about the complex family background and gossip and family legends of both the Moulton Barretts and the Brownings regarding their ancestry. If the author indulges a bit too much in gossip, there is still something in here worth reading, and the author's discussion of the sparkling romance between RB and EBB and the gallant way that they dealt with the psychosomatic conditions that they struggled with and the responsibilities of adulthood and marriage and parenthood is telling. It is a shame that the author sometimes gets in the way of the compelling story here.
This book is about 350 pages and is divided into four parts. After a note on transcriptions and an introduction, the first part of the book (I) examines the courtship of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, including how they fell in love over letters and how their marriage was not an elopement, contrary to myth, and how it was that the experience of running away may have inspired EBB's poem about the runaway slave, an odd poem to write on one's honeymoon for sure. The second part of the book then looks at the early experiences of the Barrett's in Italy (II), including what the first few years of marriage were like for both of them individually, and their commitment to Italian politics and the local and expatriate community in Italy. The third part of the book discusses some of the tensions between the two relating to spirituality and the relationship between the couple and the Barrett relatives (III). Finally, the book ends with a discussion of EBB's death, RB's struggle to write poetry and be respected and be a widower father, and even a bit about his late career renaissance (IV), after which there are notes, a selected bibliography, acknowledgements, an index, and illustration credits.
Ultimately, even if this book is deeply flawed, the subject matter of this book conveys enough interest that it is certainly a worthwhile read. For example, the author examines the marriage of EBB and RB from the perspective of both of the partners, and comments on their agreements and disagreements, their shared commitment to Italian unity and liberty, their shared enlightened thinking about a variety of subjects, and even their background relating to creole interests that introduces the question of racial identity and social justice. Naturally, the author takes to themes of politics, racial identity, and social justice like a duke to water, and the theme of the discussion of the marriage is harmed at least somewhat by the length that the author spends to talking about the complex family background and gossip and family legends of both the Moulton Barretts and the Brownings regarding their ancestry. If the author indulges a bit too much in gossip, there is still something in here worth reading, and the author's discussion of the sparkling romance between RB and EBB and the gallant way that they dealt with the psychosomatic conditions that they struggled with and the responsibilities of adulthood and marriage and parenthood is telling. It is a shame that the author sometimes gets in the way of the compelling story here.
June 24, 2023
Wow, by far one of my favourite biographies. I love the relationship Elizabeth Barrett had with Robert Browning; their marriage was hard and fraught with grief and death and illness, and yet they remained steadfastly constant to each other. This biography also contained a lot of information on the political atmosphere in Italy in the 1840s-1860s.
Finally, I relate a great deal to Elizabeth BB. It is at times uncomfortable having my own mortality and struggle with constant illness described in such intimate terms by someone who was born 207 years before me.
Finally, I relate a great deal to Elizabeth BB. It is at times uncomfortable having my own mortality and struggle with constant illness described in such intimate terms by someone who was born 207 years before me.
January 11, 2021
I found this account of the poets disorganized as it bounced back and forward and back again in time. It was frustrating to read when the author would begin talking about an episode in the late 1850s and then quickly revert to the early 50s. It was like she had no plan at all. She was thorough and knowledgeable, but the confusion of her presentation left me having to reread passages ov and over again.
February 26, 2025
This book describes the marriage of two of the greatest poets of the ages. Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning certainly had their share of troubles and tribulations. It was shocking to me that her father actually wanted none of his children to be married and cut them off financially as well as emotionally if they did. The book, however, was pretty dry for my tastes. Some sections were very hard to get through. Might be worth it for hardcore fans of these tried and true poets.
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March 2, 2023DNF at 121. This biography wasn’t giving me what I had hoped.
February 29, 2016
This is a biography (in a way) of the marriage of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning and it is an amazing story. Poet Elizabeth Barrett was an invalid in her thirties confined to her house and restricted by a tyrannical father when she corresponded with the younger and less famous Robert Browning. They fell in love, she found she could walk and slowly got stronger physically and they married secretly and then fled to Italy. She thrived in Italy and in the warmth of her husband's regard and love she lived a normal married life, the poet of the Italian Risorgimento and the mother of a son, Pen Browning.
The Barrett father is interesting. Not only Elizabeth but all his children were ordered not to marry on pain of being disinherited and most complied. Those who defied him were totally disowned. Elizabeth was in the unusual position for the times in having inherited money in her own right. Julia Markus is convincing in explaining this in terms of the Barrett genealogy. Their substantial wealth came from slave plantations in Jamaica and letters from Elizabeth and from other members of the family refer to their African blood. It would seem that Barrett senior was trying to breed any African genes out of the family by denying marriage to all of his children. At about this stage I become a bit confused. I think I can understand how people in the past were thinking and I think I've got it and then an anomaly springs up. The African ex slave ancestor was a much loved and valued member of the family, not secreted away but accepted with pride. I don't understand how a family can behave like this and still be part of the slave economy but I think that money is the answer and the ability to believe the lies we tell ourselves. To confuse me more it appears that Robert Browning's much loved grandmother was also part African from his family's slave plantations.
I'd like to think that their mixed race heritage was the mainspring for their creative energy despite their poetry being so very European.
All this makes the families of the Barretts and the Brownings interesting. Julia Markus explores all this and their life in Italy through letters of the couple and those of family and friends. There are a few dull spots. Elizabeth as a heroine of the Risorgimento goes on for too long and there are detailed chapters when she becomes caught up in spiritualism and overheated relationships with believers in table tapping and automatic writing. But the interesting parts are fascinating. She makes Elizabeth live, Robert less so.
I intend to read some of Elizabeth's poetry. I have never been a great fan of the poetry of Robert Browning but he is is up there with some of my favourite historical people.
The Barrett father is interesting. Not only Elizabeth but all his children were ordered not to marry on pain of being disinherited and most complied. Those who defied him were totally disowned. Elizabeth was in the unusual position for the times in having inherited money in her own right. Julia Markus is convincing in explaining this in terms of the Barrett genealogy. Their substantial wealth came from slave plantations in Jamaica and letters from Elizabeth and from other members of the family refer to their African blood. It would seem that Barrett senior was trying to breed any African genes out of the family by denying marriage to all of his children. At about this stage I become a bit confused. I think I can understand how people in the past were thinking and I think I've got it and then an anomaly springs up. The African ex slave ancestor was a much loved and valued member of the family, not secreted away but accepted with pride. I don't understand how a family can behave like this and still be part of the slave economy but I think that money is the answer and the ability to believe the lies we tell ourselves. To confuse me more it appears that Robert Browning's much loved grandmother was also part African from his family's slave plantations.
I'd like to think that their mixed race heritage was the mainspring for their creative energy despite their poetry being so very European.
All this makes the families of the Barretts and the Brownings interesting. Julia Markus explores all this and their life in Italy through letters of the couple and those of family and friends. There are a few dull spots. Elizabeth as a heroine of the Risorgimento goes on for too long and there are detailed chapters when she becomes caught up in spiritualism and overheated relationships with believers in table tapping and automatic writing. But the interesting parts are fascinating. She makes Elizabeth live, Robert less so.
I intend to read some of Elizabeth's poetry. I have never been a great fan of the poetry of Robert Browning but he is is up there with some of my favourite historical people.
June 30, 2013
I had not read other biographies of this couple, so this book was useful to me because it tells the story of their lives and their love for one another. I did sense a bit of preference the author may have displayed toward Robert Browning, or a bias against Elizabeth B.B., and I believe Markus did academic research about him previous to writing this trade book. R.B. did leave much more for the author to work with, since he lived a longer and more prolific existence, so perhaps her bias is understandable. Yet I felt it slanted and colored her re-imagining of scenes, as she delved into their letters and other documents. All in all, a fascinating and readable tale about the kind of love that transcends lifetimes and for that alone, I would recommend it.
October 23, 2016
I took my time with this book, as when I sat down to read, I would be fully immersed in the time and place described in each chapter, and would feel as though I was living among the people described therein. Such is the meticulous detail with which Ms. Markus takes us into the the lives and the relationships of these two great Victorian poets. The depth and breadth of their intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual expressiveness is matched by the depth and breadth of Ms. Markus' scholarship. The affectionate respect Ms. Markus feels for her subjects is apparent throughout; reading the author's voice, one can almost see the twinkle in her eye.
June 15, 2017
Helpful source as I work on the new play. Shows the many connections the two had with other writers and artists of the times. A little too sentimental at time, but solid information and many direct quotes from the Brownings letters, which is exactly what I need. I would give it 4 1/2 stars if I could.
August 25, 2007
FANTASTIC! What an inspiring love story from the life of two fantastic and famous poets who prevailed in their forbidden love through writing.
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August 23, 2011A beautiful real life love story between two exceptional poets.
March 19, 2011
Took a while to get through, but I'm glad I did.
March 15, 2014
Amazing to finally get more detailed information on their courtship and family reactions at the time. Loved it.
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May 15, 2014I LOVED IT!!!
October 8, 2014
Beautiful story, and the historical perspective illustrated by the letters these two wrote is incredible. Poets write great letters, apparently.
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews