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About The Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Poems from one half of literatures most famous couple

Elizabeth Barrett Moulton Barrett was born on 6 March 1806, in Coxhoe Hall, County Durham, the eldest of 12 children. The family's wealth was derived from sugar plantations manned by slaves in Jamaica and enabling them to also purchase a 500-acre estate in Herefordshire. This wealth allowed her to publish poems from an early age. However by age 20 the family's fortunes were to decline, but never below comfortable, after losing a lawsuit over their plantations. Shortly thereafter Elizabeth became afflicted with an unknown disease and became addicted to morphine. Despite this she continued to write and became increasingly popular both in England and in the United States. Her poems against slavery chronicled her abhorrence of the basis of the family wealth. In 1844 she was introduced to the younger Robert Browning who was a great admirer of her work and began a secret courtship and thence to marriage. To him she wrote and dedicated one of her greatest works, Sonnets from the Portuguese, and they went to live in Italy in 1846. Although by now an invalid, she seemed insecure of the love of the vigorous Robert but continued to write and publish poetry as diverse as love sonnets and political pieces before succumbing to death in 1861. Our readers include Ghizela Rowe and Richard Mitchley. 01 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning - An Introduction 02 - A Curse For A Nation 03 - The House Of Clouds 04 - The Runaway Slave At Pilgrim's Point 05 - Comfort 06 - Chorus Of Eden Spirits 07 - The Autumn 08 - A Musicial Instrument 09 - To My Father On His Birthday 10 - Aurora Leigh (Excerpts) 11 - A Thought For A Lonly Death Bed 12 - The Ladies Yes 13 - My Heart & I 14 - A Man's Requirements 15 - Change Upon Change 16 - A Woman's Shortcomings 17 - Sonnets From The Portuguese