What is the difference between a good poet and a great poet? Looking at the works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the difference appears in the emotion.
Most kids remember joyful laughter, stockings packed with goodies, and a highly anticipated gift from Mr. Claus himself waiting under the tree on Christmas morning. But when Brooke Farnsworth (English Teaching ’26) was 14 years old, she ripped open her present expecting a shiny new phone and, instead, found an anthology of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poems.
Though disappointed at first, Farnsworth quickly became fascinated with the way Browning’s poetry conveyed emotion. Farnsworth found Browning’s portrayal of grief particularly interesting, especially when, as a college student, Farnsworth learned more about Browning’s writing style. Deciding to pursue this topic more in depth, Farnsworth applied for and received a Humanities Undergraduate Mentoring (HUM) Grant in 2024. Describing what she learned during her studies of Browning’s work, Farnsworth says, “I actually love the concept of grief. I love understanding how it transforms a person.”
Current Scholarship
While Farnsworth loves Browning’s use of emotion, not all scholars share the same sentiment. Instead, some argue that this makes Browning less valid as a poet. Though Victorian poetry is full of emotion, modern scholar Peaches Henry said, “From the modern critical perspective being labeled sentimental is a pejorative judgment.”i
Rather than emotion taking away from Browning’s poems as a whole, Farnsworth says Browning’s emotion actually “emphasizes the authority of Browning’s writing and her importance as an author.” Farnsworth found that the portrayal of grief in Browning’s poetry reveals her contradiction of Victorian religious beliefs in an effort to find hope after her brother’s passing.
Grief and Religion
In 1840, Browning’s brother Edward visited her when she was ill. Shortly into his stay, he went sailing and unexpectedly drowned. Browning blamed herself for his death and worked through her grief in the form of poetry, which was not uncommon for Victorian poets to do.
But what makes Browning unique is what her grief says about Victorian religious values. “Victorians were exceptionally pious and devout,” says Farnsworth, “so this exploration shows the depth of the discussions surrounding religion at the time.”
Commanding God
Wanting to know how spirituality helped Browning find hope, Farnsworth looked to Linda M. Lewis, a scholar who wrote Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Spiritual Progress: Face to Face with God. Lewis believed that devout Victorian Christians would accept a family member’s death as their own fault to avoid blaming a kind and caring God whose will always proves perfect and true.
However, Farnsworth believes Browning’s poem “Substitution” discredits Lewis’s claim. The final line of the poem said, “Speak THOU, availing Christ!—and fill this pause.” Farnsworth reads this as Browning’s attempt to command God, a highly unusual act for a Victorian Christian. This command proves that Browning didn’t find hope and peace in God. Alternatively, she found peace in her own understandings of the divine. Farnsworth argues that Browning saw God’s will as just but also recognized that “God’s will is not going to make her feel joyful all the time.”
Speaking to the Dead
Commanding God wasn’t the only thing Browning tried as she grieved—she continued to reject common Victorian beliefs and explored spiritualism: the belief that spirits speak with the living through mediums. Farnsworth says that Browning “craves that intimate relationship and that connection to the afterlife.”
Instead of succumbing to grief and utter despair because her commands were not answered, Browning took matters into her own hands. She realized that she had power to determine her own spirituality. “That is not something your average poet is going to do,” Farnsworth says, explaining that the emotion displayed in Browning’s poems adds depth to the conversation about grief after the death of a loved one.
That is exactly why Farnsworth finds Browning so fascinating and believes her to be a great poet. A good poet relates to people, but a great poet discusses new ways of thinking and feeling. Farnsworth says that Browning’s “poetry is so much deeper than this emotional state; it’s actually showing this transition from someone that is spiraling and wondering where they can find any hope to commanding God.”
i “The Sentimental Artistry of Barrett Browning’s ‘Cry of the Children’”
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