“Emily Brontë is the sphinx of our modern literature”, wrote Clement Shorter in 1896, and many readers both before and since have seen Brontë as an enigma. This view was formulated first in 1850 when, two years after her sister's death (Emily died in 1848 at the age of 30), Charlotte Brontë introduced the second edition of Wuthering Heights and argued that a “secret power and fire” resided in Brontë that animated her writing with an original, oracular force. “An interpreter ought always to have stood between her and the world”, Charlotte wrote. Charlotte's image of Emily as a Romantic genius or native sibyl, an untutored “nursling of the moors”, has proved remarkably durable. Until well into the twentieth century critics were more

This article in full comprises 2183 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members.

All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

First published 07 July 2001

Citation: Vine, Steven. "Emily Brontë". The Literary Encyclopedia. 7 July 2001.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=583, accessed 9 February 2010.]