705 Runaway Poets - How the Brownings Fell in Love (And Why It Matters)

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

History, Books, Arts

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 May 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861) was one of the most prolific and accomplished poets of the Victorian age, an inspiration to Emily Dickinson, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, and countless others. And yet, her life was full of cloistered misery, as her father insisted that she should never marry. And then, the clouds lifted, and a letter arrived. It was from the poet Robert Browning (1812-1889), admiring her from afar, declaring his love. How did these two poets find each other? What kind of life did they share afterwards? And what dark secrets had led to her father’s restrictions…and how might that have affected his daughter’s poetry? Host Jacke Wilson takes a look at the story of the Brownings. This episode originally ran as episode 95 on May 29, 2017. It is presented here without commercial interruption. Additional listening: 415 "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti 130 The Poet and the Painter - The Great Love Affair of Anna Akhmatova and Amedeo Modigliani 138 Why Poetry? (with Matthew Zapruder) Music Credits: “Handel – Entrance to the Queen of Sheba” by Advent Chamber Orchestra (From the Free Music Archive / CC by SA). “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” and “Piano Between” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglomerate Network and Lit Hub Radio.
0:09.2	Hello, this is Jack in 2025, presenting to you an episode from our archives called The Runaway Poets,
0:16.7	the triumphant love story of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. We will present it here
0:22.6	and all its glory uninterrupted, uninterrupted, I should say, by commercial sponsorship.
0:30.6	It's from 2017 originally, and whoa. It was actually eight years ago to the day.
0:37.7	I see, May 29th, 2017.
0:40.1	That was not planned.
0:41.1	What are the odds?
0:42.2	Has to be one in 365 and a quarter.
0:47.0	At least.
0:47.7	Let's ponder that for a while.
0:49.5	Okay, I'm done pondering.
0:51.6	Here's the episode.
0:53.1	I hope you enjoy it. Hello, I'm Jack Wilsonering. Here's the episode. I hope you enjoy it.
0:55.4	Hello, I'm Jack Wilson. Welcome to the History of Literature.
1:17.8	Music Okay, let's get started.
1:20.7	We have a wonderful episode today, a wonderful topic,
1:24.9	two incredible poets and the way they found one another,
1:27.7	and why they needed to find one another.
1:29.4	And there's a surprise ending.
1:31.7	A surprise ending.
1:36.4	Well, I can't tell you much more about that because within what would be the surprise.
	...

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