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Written in Blood: The Art of Mothering Epic in the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Written in Blood: The Art of Mothering Epic in the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning OLIVIA GATTI TAYLOR t age thirteen, Elizabeth Barrett Browning composed her first "epic" poem, "The Battle of Marathon," inspired by her hope to become the female Homer.1 Later in her life, however, she rejected the limitations of an epic inspired by the past. In Barrett Browning's 1856 verse novel, Aurora Leigh, the protagonist--a woman poet, like the author herself--defines the true vocation of the creators of epic: they must "represent . . . / Their age . . . this live, throbbing age."2 Aurora Leigh, an innovative künstlerroman significantly longer than Milton's Paradise Lost, was indeed hailed as a "present-day epic" by Barrett Browning's contemporary, Coventry Patmore.3 The work continues to receive considerable critical attention, much of which now focuses on its use of images which allow "female experiences that are usually silenced" to "speak loudly."4 In fact, Dorothy Mermin argues that "all the women" in the text "are conceived primarily as mothers," with the exception of "Aurora herself " (p. 190). However, Barrett Browning maintains that the "heavens and the earth" grant the same "vocation" to both mother and poet: namely, to carry out the "most necessary work" of developing the human soul (AL, 2.455, 460). Thus, http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Victorian Poetry West Virginia University Press

Written in Blood: The Art of Mothering Epic in the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Taylor, Olivia Gatti
Victorian Poetry , Volume 44 (2) – Jun 26, 2006
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Publisher
West Virginia University Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2006 West Virginia University.
ISSN
1530-7190
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Abstract

OLIVIA GATTI TAYLOR t age thirteen, Elizabeth Barrett Browning composed her first "epic" poem, "The Battle of Marathon," inspired by her hope to become the female Homer.1 Later in her life, however, she rejected the limitations of an epic inspired by the past. In Barrett Browning's 1856 verse novel, Aurora Leigh, the protagonist--a woman poet, like the author herself--defines the true vocation of the creators of epic: they must "represent . . . / Their age . . . this live, throbbing age."2 Aurora Leigh, an innovative künstlerroman significantly longer than Milton's Paradise Lost, was indeed hailed as a "present-day epic" by Barrett Browning's contemporary, Coventry Patmore.3 The work continues to receive considerable critical attention, much of which now focuses on its use of images which allow "female experiences that are usually silenced" to "speak loudly."4 In fact, Dorothy Mermin argues that "all the women" in the text "are conceived primarily as mothers," with the exception of "Aurora herself " (p. 190). However, Barrett Browning maintains that the "heavens and the earth" grant the same "vocation" to both mother and poet: namely, to carry out the "most necessary work" of developing the human soul (AL, 2.455, 460). Thus,

Journal

Victorian Poetry – West Virginia University Press

Published: Jun 26, 2006

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