Historical Figures

Emily Brontë, solitary writer

Emily Jane Bronte (1818 – 1848) was an English writer, poet and novelist, sister of Charlotte Brontë and Anne Brontë. His only novel is a monument of British literature.

The dramatic boarding school

Daughter of Maria and Patrick Brontë, fifth in a family of six children (Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Branwell , Emily, Anne), Emily Jane Brontë was born on July 30, 1818 in Thornton (England). Her mother died when Emily was only three years old, and three years later she and her three older sisters were sent to a boarding school for pastors' children.

The place, which had been recommended to them, turns out to be unsanitary and the living conditions there are very difficult. In 1825, the two eldest, Maria and Elizabeth, fell seriously ill and were withdrawn from school, but died within weeks of each other. Charlotte and Emily then leave the boarding school in turn. This episode will leave a lasting and lasting mark on the four Brontë children.

The Glass Town Confederacy and the World of Gondal

In 1826, Patrick gave Branwell twelve wooden soldiers, and this gift provided the four children with a playground that heightened their imaginations. They invent the “Confederation of Glass Town” and write, around a world that they create as they go along, stories, poems, diaries and plays influenced by a literary magazine that their father receives. In 1831, Charlotte left them to go to school, and Emily and Anne created the tougher, female-driven world of Gondal. Most of Emily's poems are set in Gondal's cycle.

Solitary, Emily Brontë fails to resume studies as well as to occupy a post of teacher. In 1842, she accompanied her sister Charlotte to M. Héger's boarding school in Brussels, where she learned French, German and the piano, but returned when her aunt died and devoted herself to writing.

Wtormwind Heights

It was Charlotte who discovered Emily's poetic talent and who offered her two sisters the publication of a collective collection. The work was published in 1846 under the title Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell , the three sisters having decided to be published under male pseudonyms. In 1847, she published her only novel, Wuthering Heights (Wtormwind Heights ), which met with some success. It is only later that the dramatic power of the work and the genius of Emily Brontë will be recognized.

In 1848, her brother Branwell, who had become an alcoholic and opium addict, suffered a disappointment in love which aggravated his condition and Emily took care of him. In September, he dies of tuberculosis and Emily, probably infected, catches a cold at his funeral but refuses to take treatment. She in turn died of tuberculosis on December 19, 1848.