Summary and Analysis of "Appendix A: Views, Reviews of Collected Poems, and Criticism", Elizabeth Barrett Browning

In this blog, I will be summarizing three views and reviews of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry from Edgar Allan Poe, William Stigand and Peter Bayne.

 

Summaries

 
From Edgar Allan Poe, a review of EBB’s 1844 Poems, in the Broadway Journal (New-York) I, #1 & #2 (4 and II January 1845): 4-8, 17-20

In his review, Poe shows his admiration for Elizabeth Barrett Browning : “we doubt whether one exists, with more profound - with more enthusiastic reverence and admiration of her genius, than the writer of these words”. Then Poe gives several example of Browning’s poems to illustrate what he calls “profusion” in her poetry, such as: “The Cry of the Children”, “Bertha in the Lane”, “Democratic Review” and “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship”. Poe also explains that the rhythm in her poetry was not usual : “In some cases it is nearly impossible to determine what meter is intended. “The Cry of Children” cannot be scanned”. Eventually, Poe affirms that Elizabeth Barrett Browning is the best poetess of her time.

 

From William Stigand, “The Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning”, Edimburg Review 114 (July-October 1861): 512-34

 

Here Stigand writes just after Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s death and sings her praises : “The gifted person, whose recent death calls forth this notice from us”. As Poe does in his review, Stigand explains that to him, Browning’s style was ‘inflated”, that is to say full of elements: “more quaint than Quarles in her imagery, more grotesque than Cowley or Donne in her ideas, more eccentric in her rhymes than the author of “Hudibras”, and often more coarsely masculine than any known female writer”. Then, Stigand affirms that Browning was a woman of great talent.

 

From Peter Bayne, Two Great Englishwomen: Mrs. Browning and Charlotte Brontë; with an Essay on Poetry, Illustrated from Wordsworth, Burns, and Byron (London: James Clarke, 1881)

 As Poe and Stigand, Bayne praises Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s work, as we can read: “In no poet whatever was the lyrical glow more authentically fervid and genuine”. He explains what he thinks to be her most “characteristic poem” according to her readers, that is to say “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship”. Then he explains that to him, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry was close to the social concerns of her time.

 

Analysis

All the three authors of the texts that I summarized praise Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s work. Indeed, Poe speaks about “her magnificent genius” and qualifies her as “the greatest – the most glorious of her sex”, Stigand says that “she was unquestionably a woman of rare genius” and to Bayne, “she embodied woman’s”. Both Poe and Stigand notice that the poetess has a particular style which distinguishes itself by its “profusion”, as Poe writes. To him, Browning was inattentive to rhythm. To Stigand, Browning’s poetry has “a crowd of incoherent thoughts and extravagant images”. But I believe that these opinions are given more in order to underline Browning’s genius than to be read as bad critics. Bayne does not mention Browning’s singular style, but he underlines the importance of Browning’s poetry for her time. Because she lived in a time of political reforms and social transformation (Bayne mentions the Reform Bill), her  politically committed poetry had a strong effect.