Elizabeth Barrett Browning Research Paper

The Victorian Era was characterized by rapid change and developments in every sphere. The Victorian era was a period of dramatic change that brought England to its highest point of development as a world power. The advancements ranged from an increase in technological innovation and knowledge to profound religious reforms. This era was filled with confidence in advancement and financial prosperity and was noticeable by considerable events such as the Industrial Revolution and the growth of Imperialism. Families in the 19th century were big and male-controlled. The males in the family encouraged hard work and religious conformity, as it was practiced at that time. While this interpretation of nineteenth century lifetime was valid, contemporaries

Eventually, England faced a remarkable expansion of culture through various reforms such as feminism and socialism. Literacy increased significantly in the period, and publishers could bring out more material more cheaply than ever before. This situation in England allowed Elizabeth Browning and Christina Rossetti to flourish and gain triumph in their poetic endeavors. Both poets integrate ideas of repression and social injustices, which were common in the society of that era. Perhaps, most prominently in their poetry emerge themes concerning social justice, faith, love and mortality. Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Rossetti were both regarded as the female poet laureates of their time, and between them their writings spanned almost the entire Victorian age. Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) was born in Durham. Her family was very affluent, through owning sugar plantations in Jamaica, where they had resided for 200 years

(Browning, E).
Though the poem was written as a reflection of Elizabeth Browning’s personal life, it exactly paralleled the condition in England and connected to the common man at that time. Through this sonnet, “E. Browning is breaking the role of the silent women who along the history were only the object of adoration: she, as a woman, is talking with her own voice and claiming that she loves a man over anything else: family, religion, death and with her entire self” (Everett, G). Christina Rossetti used elements of love in her writing like Browning, but she also includes her Christian faith to portray love in a religious way. She was an extremely devout Christian, and all her religious ideas affected every work she created. In Rossetti’s poem “Trust Me,” she is conversing to her lover about the approaches she has for God. She assures him that he will be the first thing to her if anything happens but if she was obliged to pick between God and her lover, she will pick God without hesitating. Yet, while I love my God the most, I deem That I can never love you over much: I love him more, so let me love you too; (Rossetti,