Elizabeth Barrett Browning Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett at Coxhoe Hall, Durham County on March 6, 1806. She was one of twelve children. Her parents, Edward Moulton-Barrett and Mary Graham Clarke Moulton-Barrett had eight sons and four daughters. Between 1809 and 1814 Elizabeth began writing poetry. In 1818 she wrote “The Battle of Marathon” and in 1820 her father had it published. When Elizabeth was fifteen years of age, she developed an illness and was prescribed Opium, which began her lifelong Opium habit. Elizabeth’s first published work was “The Rose and Zephyr” in 1825 at the age of twenty-one. A year later, she published An Essay on Mind. Both publications were anonymous and were financially supported by her family. Her father assisted in getting them both published. Elizabeth had commented later in her career that these works were “Pope’s Homer done over again, or rather redone”. She obviously thought very little of the early part of her career. Her Mother passed away in 1828 and Elizabeth began studying classical literature under H.S. Boyd. Her next publication was Prometheus Bound, published in 1833 and once again, anonymously. This translation was from the Greek playwright, Aeschylus. Boyd re-ignited an interest of Elizabeth’s since childhood, in Greek literature and studies. During her youth, Elizabeth was self- taught in the area of literature. She read Paradise Lost, Dante’s Inferno and the Old Testament, in Hebrew, which was obviously the backdrop for Prometheus Bound. In 1837 Elizabeth’s health deteriorated when she burst a blood vessel affecting her lungs; Elizabeth became an invalid. One year later, Elizabeth published her first volume of poetry under her own name, The Seraphim and Other Poems. This work received favorable reviews, which in turn, brought about a correspondence with Wordsworth, C...
