Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-08-08
BIOGRAPHY.
Elisabeth Barrett Bro,c,.sng.

Elisabeth Barrett Bro,c,sssg. aa.
The subject of this sketch was the
most distinguished poet of her sex that
England has produced. She was the
daughter Of Mr.. Barrett, an English
country gentleman. From very early
age, almost before theyears of childhood
had passed, she exhibited a remarkable
preference for the arts and especially
that of the poetic. Before she was Is
years Of age she had written poems up
on which were very visible the stamp OF
true genius, and were eminently worthy
of preservation.
Whatever she wrote was sacred to all
eyes, save those Of her father, whom she
is pleased to call, "My public ana my
critic" in the first collected edition Of
her poems.
Her physical constitution was natural
ly frail and delicate, and yet nature
seemed to have supplemented her de-
ficiency in this respect by bestowing up
on her an unusually sensitive mental
and spiritual organization. One who
knew her intimately, Miss Milford, has
described her as "slght, delicate,
figure, with a shower Of dark curls fall
ing on each side of most expressive
face; large, tender eyes, fringed with
dark eye-lashes, and a smile like q sun
beam.
ALI descriptions of Miss Barrett concu,
in this, that she possessed grace and q
delicacy which defed a representation
by the artist
Her studies were early directed by the
poets of antiquity, and, under the gui-
dance Of her blind tutor, Boyd, whose
name she always warmly cherished, she
mastered the rich treasures Of Hschy-
lus. The sublime Grecian possessed for
her charm which was only equaled by
the fascination held over her wondering
spirit by Shakespeare.
Her knowledge of Greek literature
was most profound, and it was said that
she was intimately familiar with all the
Attic writer's in tragedy and comedy.
Yet her correspondence with eminent
contemporaries of both sexes proves he,
to have been thoroughly acquainted with
English literature in its progress from
Chaucer downward.
The circumstances of her life and her
delicate health conspired to make he1
seek even more than she might have
done the communion of the great de-
parted in arts and letters. It was her
misfortune, in 1857, to further have her
existence endangered by the bursting Of
blood-vessel in the lungs. It was by
the exercise of extreme care her life was
for the time preserved, but the incident
was succeeded by long period of weak
ness and suffering.
Some two years after this severe shock
to her system, and ere she had recovered
entirely from its effects, she was again
called to experience the keenest anguish
on witnessing the death of her favorite
brother, who was most unfortunately
drowned at Torquay. As might have
been expected from one of her cGnging
and affectionate disposition, long pc
Rod Of danger followed this great catas-
trophe, and when, at length, she was
able to be removed to her fathers house,
it was only to become an invalid, with 9
prospect Of lifelong illness.
This period Of seclusion lasted 70,
seven long years, and this time was EN-.
ployed by Miss Barrett in most eagerly
devouring all the books which could
be brought within her reach. At this
time she was sedulously cultivating the
art that was afterward to insure for hel
Immortality. In 1916, when she was in
her 37th year, she married Mr.. Brown
ing, and it was said the union was singu
larry feicitous.
Mr.. Browning went with his wife tc
Italy, and for some years the sunny
skies of the South were instrumental in
giving to Mrs. Browning that health
which had so long forsaken her in hel
native land. The villa of the Brown
ings, in Florence, was the resort Of many
noble spirits, eminent either for patriot
ism or In the arts.
A peculiar tenderness breathes
through her writings, whether of the
humblest or the most ambitious de
scripton.
Almost her first work bore upon it the
traces of her Greek studies, being an
excellent translation of Prometheus.
Another very early production, "The
Drama of Exile" is unquestionably
marked by great sublimity of thought,
though the conception may lack the
mighty outlines Of the majestic Milton.
Eloquent and sustained, the poem made
manifest pure and original writer.
The spirituality Of her "Vision Of Poets
is said to be very noticeable quality,