In February 1845, Elizabeth Barrett wrote to Robert Browning that she was contemplating “a sort of novel poem” on modern themes which would challenge the conventions of her day. But, she continued, she was “waiting for a story”. That story, which would become her great work

, came to her five years later, after her marriage to Browning and after she had completed her political meditations on the Italian Risorgimento, published in 1851 as

. The fictional autobiography of a woman poet (not herself, Barrett Browning insisted),

is a bold synthesis of lyric and narrative elements, literary and social theory. It is Barrett Browning's strongest claim to fame and a foundational text for women poets, feminist activists, and feminist literary…

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Citation: Sanders Pollock, Mary. "Aurora Leigh". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 July 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6473, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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