Aurora Leigh is an aspiring poet of independent spirit, rebelling against the stifling constraints of Victorian middle-class society and struggling for self expression. This story exposes the hypocrisy and repressive social attitudes of Victorian England.
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Review
Novel in blank verse by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, published in 1857. The first-person narrative, which comprises some 11,000 lines, tells of the heroine's childhood and youth in Italy and England, her self-education in her father's hidden library, and her successful pursuit of a literary career. Initially resisting a marriage proposal by the philanthropist Romney Leigh, Aurora later surrenders her independence and weds her faithful suitor, whose own idealism has also since been tempered by experience. Aurora's career, Romney's social theories, and a melodramatic subplot concerning forced prostitution elicit the author's vivid observations on the importance of poetry, the individual's responsibility to society, and the victimization of women. Although it was a great popular success, Aurora Leigh was not admired by critics. -- The Merriam-Webster Encylopedia of Literature
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Margaret Reynolds is Lecturer in English at the University of Birmingham. She is the editor of the variorum Aurora Leigh (Ohio University Press, 1992), Erotica (Pandora and Ballantine, 1990), and The Penguin Book of Lesbian Short Stories (1994). She is co-editor (with Angela Leighton) of Victorian Women Poets: An Anthology (Basil Blackwell, 1995). She is currently at work on Sappho’s Companions.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
As If Jane Eyre Were Written by Shakespeare,
By
This review is from: Aurora Leigh (Norton Critical Editions) (Paperback)
Having been brought up on the notion that Elizabeth Barrett Browning was the slighter and less-talented adjunct poet of her husband Robert, I was pleased to find I was wrong.
She's terrific. This is a brilliant work, full of dazzling poetry and insights. It's loaded with allusions and references (I read the Penguin edition; and the notes there run for many, many pages--and these barely skim the surface), but it is remarkably accessible and fun. This is a work full of wisdom and unusual perspectives. Luminous and grand and down-to-earth all at once. Imagine Jane Eyre written by Shakespeare. It's an education in Victorian (upper-middle-class) England, and also the Victorian English infatuation with Italy. It's also a biting and incisive feminist portrait, full of rebellion and self-discovery. I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes poetry, or Victorian novels.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An amazing achievement,
By Daniel Robinson (Lansdale, PA United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Aurora Leigh (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)
E.B.B. set out to outstrip Milton and does so in an amazingly original way. Aurora Leigh is a novel in blank verse that is actually longer than Paradise Lost! She combines the genre expectations for a woman writer--the novel--with an audacious bid for poetic immortality. The book tells a good story but it also works as a formidable reminder to her contemporary poets that the novel is taking over and poets must make sure that they are writing in the spirit of the age.
1.0 out of 5 stars
AWFUL copy of Aurora Leigh,
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This review is from: Aurora Leigh, a Poem (Paperback)
This is the worst copy of a book I have ever seen. There are so many typos it is unreadable! Aurora Leigh is a poem in verse and this copy jumbles all the lines together and has no line numbers either. I had to buy another copy this one was so bad. I DO NOT recommend this book!
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
THE words 'cousin' and 'friend' are constantly recurring in this poem, the last pages of which have been finished under the hospitality of your roof, my own dearest cousin and friend-cousin and friend, in a sense of less equality and greater disinterestedness than Romney's. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Romney Leigh, Lady Waldemar, Lord Howe, Aurora Leigh, Sir Blaise, Marian Erle, Miss Leigh, Marian Erie, Vincent Carrington, Mister Leigh, Leigh Hall, Kate Ward, Here's Marian, Mistress Brookes, Till God New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
THE words 'cousin' and 'friend' are constantly recurring in this poem, the last pages of which have been finished under the hospitality of your roof, my own dearest cousin and friend-cousin and friend, in a sense of less equality and greater disinterestedness than Romney's. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Romney Leigh, Lady Waldemar, Lord Howe, Aurora Leigh, Sir Blaise, Marian Erle, Miss Leigh, Marian Erie, Vincent Carrington, Mister Leigh, Leigh Hall, Kate Ward, Here's Marian, Mistress Brookes, Till God New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 87
books:
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100
books
cite this book:
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- Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Front Matter (3)
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Selected Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Back Matter
- Casa Guidi Windows by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Front Matter (3)
- Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Front Matter (3)
- Sartor Resartus (Oxford World's Classics) by Thomas Carlyle in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
See all 87 books this book cites
- Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning: A Creative Partnership (The Nineteenth Century Series) by Mary Sanders Pollock on 43 pages
- Famous Last Words: Changes in Gender and Narrative Closure (Feminist Issues : Practice, Politics, Theory) by Alison Booth on 26 pages
- Dickinson and the Boundaries of Feminist Theory by Mary Loeffelholz on 13 pages
- Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader by Mary Eagleton on 7 pages
- Life of Robert Browning by William Sharp on 5 pages
See all 100 books citing this book
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