John Kenyon, a wealthy friend of the family and patron of the arts, arranged for Browning to meet Elizabeth on in her rooms, and so began one of the most famous courtships in literature. He wrote, "I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett," praising their "fresh strange music, the affluent language, the exquisite pathos and true new brave thought." Her 1844 volume Poems had made her one of the most popular writers in the country, and inspired Robert Browning to write to her. The title is also a reference to Les Lettres Portugaises (1689). She initially planned to title the collection "Sonnets translated from the Bosnian", but Browning proposed that she claim their source was Portuguese, probably because of her admiration for Camões and Robert's nickname for her: "my little Portuguese". To offer the couple some privacy, she decided to publish them as if they were translations of foreign sonnets. However, her husband Robert Browning insisted they were the best sequence of English-language sonnets since Shakespeare's time and urged her to publish them. Barrett Browning was initially hesitant to publish the poems, believing they were too personal. RARE IN THIS CONDITION AND THE FIRST EDITION OF SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE, ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING’S MOST CELEBRATED POETRY.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |