Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6, 1806, in England, County Durham, to Mary Graham-Clarke and Edward Barrett Moulton-Barrett, both of whom inherited wealth from the Jamaican sugar trade. Elizabeth was the first of eleven children. When she was three years old, Edward Moulton-Barrett moved his family to an isolated but lavish home in the Malvern Hills, near the Welsh border. She received a sound informal education from her mother and from her younger brother's tutor, who educated her in classical languages.

The political edge to much of Barrett Browning's work, especially in the poems written at the peak of her career, comes from a conflict between the middle-class drive to individual success and her own consciousne

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First published 07 July 2001

Citation: Pollock, Mary. "Elizabeth Barrett Browning". The Literary Encyclopedia. 7 July 2001.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=612, accessed 20 November 2009.]