Writers lives tend to be as fascinating to us as their fictions, even when there is relatively little biographical information available. In fact, the less we know the more fascinated we become.
The Brontes' were the world's most famous literary family and Haworth Parsonage, now the Bronte Parsonage Museum, was their home from 1820 to 1861. Born at Thornton, near Bradford they moved to the township of Haworth when Charlotte the eldest was 5 years. It can rent-free with Patrick's new position as the perpetual curate of the church. He was a published author of poetry and fiction and his children grew up accustomed to the sight of books carrying their name on the Parsonage shelves. To find two writers of genius in one family would be rare, but to find several writers in one household is unique in the history of literature.
Charlotte was born on 21 April 1816, Emily on 30 July 1818 and Anne on 17 January 1820 all in Thornton, Yorkshire. They had two sisters, both of whom died in childhood and a brother, Branwell. On 15 September 1821, Mrs Bronte died of cancer, and her unmarried sister, Elizabeth Branwell came to take charge of the running of the Parsonage, exchanging her comfortable home in Penzance for the harsh climate of a bleak northern township. In 1824 the four eldest daughters made their first venture into the world outside Haworth, to attend the Clergy Daughters' school at cowan Bridge, near Kirkby Lonsdale. Tuberculosis, which afflicted Maria and Elizabeth in 1825, also caused the eventual deaths. For the next few years the surviving children remained at home together, creating a rich imaginary world, sparked by their father's gift to Branwell of a set of toy soldiers. Because of the important role education had played in his own life, Patrick encouraged his children in their pursuit f knowledge. Any books that came thier way were eagerly devoured, and the children produced their own tiny illustrated books, designed to be small enough for the toy soldiers, with minuscule handwriting to deter the prying eyes of the Parsonage adults. Of three of the surviving Brontës: Branwell in September 1848, Emily in December 1848, and, finally, Anne in May 1849 died. Their father's lack of a private income meant that the sisters needed to acquire the accomplishments that would enable them to earn a living as governesses - the only career option socially acceptable for general young ladies with a fortune. In an attempt to escape the hated life of a governess, the sisters planned to set up a school of their own at the Parsonage. Of the three sister Anne was as great an author and yet seems forgotten. When we hear Brontë sisters, we think of Charlotte Brontë and Emily Brontë, however their sister Anne is said to be the most beautiful of all three.
Charlotte turned to her writing to sustain her through the dark days ahead. She fled Haworth to stay with George Smith and his mother in London. Her fame had provided her with a means of entering London's literary society, but by this time, Charlotte found that her sense of loss and the seclusion of her life at Haworth had left her unfitted to enjoy such society. She then kept travelling, and undertook the melancholy task of sorting through her dead sister's papers to provide a selection of their poetry and also wrote an emotional biographical notice of the two authors. She rejected marriage proposal from her fathers curate, the reverend Arthur Bell Nicholls and Patrick was incensed by the mere thought of the poor Irish Curate pursuing his famous daughter. What Charlotte saw as her father's unjust treatment worked in Nicholls favour and the couple eventually married in Haworth Church on 29 June 1854. Though Charlotte had entered the married state with misgivings, she found unexpected happiness with Arthur. The happiness did not last. She died on the morning of 31 March 1855, in the early stages of pregnancy, just three weeks before her 39th birthday There were no direct descendants of the Brontes of Haworth. Patrick Bronte lived on at the Parsonage for a further six years, cared for by his son-in-law and died there on 7 June 1861 at the age of eighty-four.
The Bronte's novels, published under the pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis and Action Bell were acknowledged at the time for their directness and powerful emotional energy, qualities which were sometimes interpreted by the critics as 'coarse' and 'brutal'. Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre (1847), Emily's Wuthering Heights (1847) and Anne's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1848) among others were written in this house.
More of these books in separate post but here are the book covers:
Certainly, the Bronte's have exerted an extraordinarily powerful hold over our collective imagination for more than 150 years now. Generations of readers, writers and artists have been absorbed and inspired by them and they have permeated the cultural landscape, at every level.
The Bronte's cultural pervasiveness is largely explained by the power of the stories they created, but the story of the Brontes' own lives has been and continues to be equally compelling. It is easy to understand why with so many irresistible components: the wild moorland landscape surrounding Haworth; the spectre of early family bereavement; the intense imaginative worlds of childhood; the remarkable literary achievement of three sisters all writing great English novels under one roof; the precociously talented but fatally flawed brother; and of course the 'tragic' early deaths.
It was Charlotte Bronte's friend the novelist Mrs Gaskell, who wrote the first Bronte biography in 1857, within two years of Charlotte's death. With such great interest in the Brontes, Haworth has become a destination for literary pilgrimage and the physical remains of the Brontes' lives is revered and sought after as relics. The Brontes father Patrick, having outlived his wife and all six of his children, lived long enough to witness this, being generous enough to receive curious visitors when the mood took him and cutting some of Charlotte's letters into snippets to satisfy request for samples of her handwriting.
Like most authors, the Brontes drew upon their imaginations, on their personal experiences and the landscape and characters around them, but their mature poems and novels are also rooted in the themes of the early writings of their childhood and adolescence. The Parsonage was amongst the largest houses in Haworth, though it would have been considered small in comparison to the houses elsewhere. They were poor in comparison to landowners or wealthy aristocrats of those times. Despite its lofty hill-top settings and the openness of the surrounding moorland, Haworth township was an overcrowded and unhealthy place in which to live in the Brontes day. It was because of the cramped conditions in which the inhabitants lived and worked, the lack of privies and the fact that the only sewerage system consisted of open channels running down the Main street.
Thanks to The Bronte Society was established in early 1893. In 1857, two years after Charlotte's death, Elizabeth Gaskell's moving tribute to her friend, The Life of Charlotte Bronte also appeared. This biography, along with Charlotte's Biographical Notice of her sisters, have become key sources for interpretations of the family, and have ensured that the story of the Bronte's lives continues to exert as much fascination as their fiction.
Visiting the home in which these three remarkable women spent most of their lives provides fascinating insight into the freedoms and restrictions of the time in which they lived and thus a deeper understanding of their novels.
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