On this day in 1818 in Thornton, Bradford was born a girl who changed the course of literary history forever. She would grow into a very shy woman, one who would stand still and silent if a stranger appeared, yet all who were lucky enough to get to know her knew they were in the presence of someone very special indeed. I couldn’t let this day pass without paying tribute to the birthday girl. It is, of course, Emily Brontë.
Emily Jane Brontë was the fifth of six Brontë siblings, and she became incredibly close to her youngest sister Anne. Great friend of the family Ellen Nussey later recalled how Emily and Anne were like twins, and told how they walked the parsonage and the moors with their arms interlocked. It is also Ellen who paid this great tribute to Emily: “I have at this time before me the history of a mighty and passionate soul, whom every adventure that makes for the sorrow or gladness of man would seem to have passed by with averted head. It is of Emily Brontë I speak, than whom the first 50 years of this century produced no woman of greater or more incontestable genius.”
The image above contains that and other tributes paid to Emily by those who had known and love her. She struggled to communicate face to face, but she had no difficulty in communicating on the page, and little difficulty with any other challenge she faced. Emily Brontë excelled at everything she turned her hand to. She was baker of the finest bread in Haworth, she picked up and mastered languages like we can pick up a pencil, she was a fabulous artist, a wonderful poet and although she wrote only one novel it was, in my opinion, the greatest novel ever written: Wuthering Heights.
The influence and adoration of this novel will never diminish – as shown by the enduring popularity of the song ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Kate Bush. Kate shares a birthday with Emily Brontë, so happy 66th birthday Kate – born 140 years to the day after Emily.
And happy 206th birthday Emily Brontë – her brilliant work has enriched my life so much, I will never stop being grateful for this shy, towering genius. I hope you can join me on Sunday for my next Brontë blog post, and I leave you now with one of Emily’s most celebrated poems in her own handwriting:
