Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

OVERVIEW
Elizabeth Barrett-Browning's poem-novel Aurora Leigh, first published in 1856, divided
critics, causing a stir in its stance on contemporary debates regarding class and gender.
Aurora Leigh is the first feature-length poem in English to place a female artist at the center
of the plot and catapulted its equally atypical female author to near poet laureate status,
and transatlantic fame, in a time in which misogyny was the norm. It did so by ingeniously
and controversially tapping into the 18th-century zeitgeist, touching on subjects such as
social class, the Industrial Revolution, aesthetics, and religion. It was in part due to this
singularity of form and content that Aurora Leigh was described by the eminent Victorian
critic John Ruskin as “the greatest poem in the English language.”
The epic poem is written in blank verse and takes place over the course of nine books. The
first book opens with a description of the Florentine childhood of the protagonist, Aurora
Leigh. This is followed by the revelation of her mother’s death when she is 4 and her father’s
death when she is 13. In the intervening years, her English father instilled in Aurora a love of
literature. She is sent to England to live with her Aunt at Leigh Hall, the family’s homestead,
where her aspirations to become a writer prevail over the typical woman’s education her
aunt provides.
The second book begins on Aurora’s twentieth birthday, with a marriage proposal from her
cousin, Romney Leigh. Romney tries to dissuade her from writing, asserting that women’s
artistic ability is inferior to that of men’s. Aurora retorts by saying he is preoccupied with
social work and rejects him. Aurora’s aunt reminds her that she will inherit nothing if she
doesn’t marry Romney. After her aunt dies, Romney offers Aurora a share of the inheritance,
which she rejects and instead moves to London, to become a poet.
At the opening of Book 3, Aurora is living in an apartment in London where she has earned
some poetic renown, though she remains unsatisfied. She receives a visit from Lady
Waldemar, who asks Aurora to help her dissuade Romney from marrying Marian Erle, whom
he has met through his social work. Unimpressed with Lady Waldemar, Aurora sends her on
her way. She visits Marian, and hears the story of her difficult upbringing, which includes
evading being sold into prostitution.
In Book 4, Aurora gives her blessing to Romney and Marian. After the cousins talk, however,
Aurora begins to realize that she has feelings for her cousin. Marian stands Romney up at the
wedding, apologizing in a letter in which she says she believes she is not worthy of him.
Romney and Aurora discuss their struggles with social work and art.
Aurora continues to be creatively frustrated in Book 5, and longs for inspiration and love. It
has been almost two years since she saw Romney, but hears news of him at a party. It
transpires that Romney has transformed Leigh Hall into a poor house, and is engaged to Lady
Waldemar. Questioning whether Romney could have loved her or Marian, she departs for
Italy.
Pausing in Paris at the opening of Book 6, Aurora chances upon Marian Erle, who has a child.
Rather than becoming pregnant through promiscuity, Marian was raped. Marian tells Aurora
that Lady Waldemar made her believe that Romney didn’t love her. Lady Waldemar’s maid
accompanied her to France, where she sold her to a brothel. Marian was raped before
escaping.
Marian continues her painful tale in Book 7, which concludes with the birth of her son,
whom she loves dearly. The trio depart together for Italy, and Aurora writes an angry letter
to Lady Waldemar, but says nothing to Romney, whom she believes to be happy. Aurora
feels lonely in Italy and thinks of Romney and her own childhood in Italy.
Some years elapse, and Aurora, Marian and her son are living outside Florence in Book 8.
Romney arrives all of a sudden, complimenting Aurora on her book. Believing him to have
married Lady Waldemar, Aurora is curt with him. Romney tells Aurora that his social work
has failed, and Leigh Hall has been torched by an angry mob. Romney laughingly reveals that
he did not marry Lady Waldemar, and hands Aurora a letter from her.
In the final book, Lady Waldemar defends herself by saying that she never intended to harm
Marian, and that she realized that Romney loves Aurora instead. Dutifully, Romney plans to
marry Marian, who rejects him, saying she only loves her child. Romney and Aurora forgive
each other, and Romney reveals he has gone blind. The couple profess love for each other,
and the poem concludes with a celestial vision of a new age.

Aurora Leigh Summary

Aurora Leigh – 1857
Jane Eyre – 1847
Maria (similar novel by Mary Wollstonecraft) - 1798
Aurora Leigh was the first major poem in English in which the heroine, like the author, is a
woman writer. Aurora Leigh rewrites Wordsworth’s The Prelude from a female point of
view. It also contains echoes of Milton, and is a novel written in blank verse format. The
work focuses on woman’s struggle to achieve artistic and economic independence in
modern society. It is also a witty, Byronic treatment of Victorian manners and social issues,
and an emotionally charged love plot that recalls Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. (In fact, the
ending takes quite a bit from the plot of Jane Eyre). Aurora Leigh overcomes the prejudices
of both a masculine audience and the man she loves, in order to find fame and happiness in
Italy, which closely mirrored Barrett Browning’s own life. The poem was an overwhelming
success, even though it posed radical ideas, like the two sexes working together so that each
could achieve its fullest human potential. It was similar to other novels of the time in that it
was a Bildungsroman, a novel of all around development or self-culture (like Dickens’ David
Copperfield and Great Expectations or Jane Eyre). The hero/heroine is usually an orphan or
has lost one parent, is brought up by unsympathetic relatives, turns to books and self-
education, and escapes to more congenial setting. It also contains some element of
autobiography.

Summary:
Book 1: Aurora is born in Florence, to a Florentine mother and English father. Her mother
dies when Aurora is four. Her father raises her (lovingly) until he dies when she is 13. Aurora
is sent to England to live with his sister, her aunt. Her aunt tries to educate Aurora in things
women need to learn—needlepoint, etc., but Aurora discovers her father’s old library and
educates herself.
Book 2: Aurora is now 20. Her cousin, Romney Leigh (a philanthropist who holds socialist
ideals), proposes marriage after criticizing her writing. She refuses him. She has her own
calling, she tells him. Her aunt is angry with Aurora for making this decision. Her aunt
subsequently dies and leaves the family fortune to Romney. He gets 30,000 pounds, while
Aurora gets 300. He offers some financial assistance to Aurora, but she refuses and goes to
London to make a living as a poet.
Books 3 and 4: Aurora has seen some success as a poet. She is visited by Lady Waldemar,
who tells her she is in love with Romney, but Romney has decided to marry a woman from a
lower class, Marian Erle. Lady Waldemar asks Aurora to go speak to Romney to talk him out
of the marriage. Aurora instead goes to see Marian and learns her life story: Marian’s
mother was an alcoholic who tried to sell Marian into prostitution. Marian ended up ill and
in the hospital for the poor. That is where Romney met her and got her work as a
seamstress. She is abused in that position. Romney then asks her to marry him. She tells
Aurora she will be a good wife to Romney. Romney then walks in, and Aurora tells him she
approves of the match. But on the wedding day, Marian never shows. A letter from her
arrives at the church, telling Romney she isn’t good enough to be his wife. The crowd at the
wedding then attacks Romney, assuming he seduced her. He searches for her in vain.
Book 5: Two years later, Aurora is still struggling to write, and Romney has turned the
ancestral home into a refuge for the poor. Aurora learns that he is now engaged to Lady
Waldemar. Distraught, Aurora decides to travel to Italy.
Book 6: While traveling through France, she sees Marian Erle, who has a child with her.
Marian explains that on the wedding day, Lady Waldemar had her abducted, told her
Romney did not love her, and sent her to France, where she was left in a brothel and raped.
Books 7 and 8: Aurora takes Marian and the child to Italy, and the three of them live
together in Florence. She sells a book. After several years, Romney finds them. He tells them
a mob burned down his ancestral home—and blinded him. He never married Lady
Waldemar, but he brought a letter from her for Aurora. She reads it and discovers that she
couldn’t marry him because she knew he was in love with Aurora. Romney doesn’t know the
contents of the letter and asks Marian to marry him. She refuses—and leaves with her child.
Aurora and Romney confess their love for one another.