Emily
Jane Brontë
(1818-1848)
Emily Brontë
was born on July 30,
1818 in Thornton,
Yorkshire, England.
Emily Brontë: An English novelist and
poet
• Parents: Maria Branwell & Patrik Bronte
*Living in the village of Thornton
Moved to Haworth, where Patrick was employed as perpetual curate (a
priest of the lowest rank)
In Haworth, the children would have opportunities to develop their li
terary talents.
HER SIBLINGS
• Maria
• Elizabeth
• Charlotte
• Branwell
• Emily (Ellis Bell)
• Anne
HER EARLY CHILDHOOD
• When Emily was only three, she lost her mother, Maria, to
cancer on 15 September 1821.
• The younger children were to be cared for by their aunt and
Maria's sister.
• Emily's three elder sisters, Maria, Elizabeth, and Charlotte,
were sent to the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge.
HER EARLY CHILDHOOD
• At the age of six, Emily joined them for a brief period.
***Suffering abuse and privations ***Typhoid epidemic at school
causing Maria and Elizabeth to become ill
• Maria, who may actually have had tuberculosis, was sent home, wh
ere she died.
• Emily, Charlotte and Elizabeth were subsequently removed from the
school in June 1825. Elizabeth died soon after their return home.
HOMESCHOOLING* CREATIVE AND
IMAGINARY WORLD
• The three remaining sisters and their brother Branwell were then home-
schooled by their father and aunt Elizabeth Branwell.
• Emily – shy, very close to her siblings, a great animal lover, especially
for befriending stray dogs she found wandering around the countryside
• Emily and her siblings had access to a wide range of published
material; favourites included Sir Walter Scott, Byron, Shelley,
and Blackwood's Magazine.
SHE STARTED SCHOOL, BUT...
• 17 years old - She attended the Roe Head Girls' School, where Charlotte
was a teacher.
• Aimed at obtaining
sufficient education to open a small school of their own.
• Suffering from extreme homesickness, she left school after only a few
months.
Her sister, Charlotte said:
"I felt in my heart she would die if she did not
go home,
and with this conviction obtained her recall."
ADULTHOOD
HER ADULTHOOD
• Applied for a teaching job of her own in 1838
***found the work grueling, working from dawn until nearly 11 pm
every day.
• After just six months, she returned home, quite ill again. (April,
1839) Instead, she stayed at Haworth for three more years, taking on
household duties, reading and writing, playing the piano.
Brussels Adventure
• In 1842, Emily accompanied Charlotte to the Héger Pensionnat
in Brussels, Belgium - the girls' academy run by Constantin Héger
****in the hope of perfecting their French and German before opening
their school
•Unlike Charlotte, Emily was uncomfortable in Brussels, and refused
to adopt Belgian fashions, saying "I wish to be as God made me".
•Nine of Emily's French essays from this period / Héger seems to have
been impressed with the strength of Emily's character.
• Returned to Haworth when her aunt died in
1843 AND SO ON
1843. Living with her father at the parsonage
in Haworth, this became a period of
creativity.
• Although the earliest dated poem is from
1836, the majority of her poetry that
survives was written during this time.
• In 1845, Charlotte found one of her poetry
notebooks and was impressed with the quality
of the poems.
REVEALING SECRETS
• Charlotte, Emily, and Anne finally read each other's poetry.
• The three selected poems from their collections under male ps
eudonyms (Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell) were published.
The Bronte Sisters
• The sisters' novels -
Charlotte's Jane
Eyre,
Emily's Wuthering
Heights, and
Anne's Agnes Grey -
were published as a
3-volume set.
Wuthering Heights
(Published in 1847)
• The village of Haworth was isolated and
surrounded by moors; thus, the one world she
knew and lived in became the setting for her
only novel.
• Paralleling her own life, she creates
motherless characters in Wuthering Heights.
• It is a story of love and revenge involving a
character named Heathcliff, who was
abandoned by his parents as an infant, and his
effect on two neighboring families.
HER LITERARY STYLE
• Social class -an important topic of debate in the Victorian Era which is also seen
throughout Wuthering Heights
• Affecting Emily’s work - describing how one’s social class affects his or her
character rather than discussing the issue as a satire.
• Emily Brontë’s writing implies that
*the concept of civilization promotes selfishness
**organized religion is hypocritical
***the basis for family life is not love, but greed
HER LITERARY STYLE
• Throughout her work, Emily emphasizes the fact
that 1) actions have consequences 2) the characteristics that one displays is
very important to their overall character as a person.
• Her focus on the issues makes Wuthering Heights a realistic novel.
• During this time period there was also a loss of optimism and a sense
of uncertainty in what was to come. This may be reflected in Emily’s work as
Wuthering Heights constantly has people dying rather unexpected and most of t
he people end up living pretty miserable lives.
HER WRITING STYLE
• Having a sense of rhythm in her sentences, varying short and long sentences
• Language is often used in pairs in opposition, as was common in Gothic literature.
• Brontë’s use of imagery, often from nature, is vivid and effective.
• Much of the animal imagery, for example, is related to fierce, wild animals.
• Reflecting nineteenth century culture, there is plenty of religious and biblical
language.
*** For example, there are frequent references to heaven and hell, Heathcliff
being like a devil, and imagery such as sheep and wolves.
THEMES IN HER WORK
• The writing style of Emily Bronte was figurative (metaphorical).
• . Emily was famous for romantic poetic style because she explored the themes of
nature
solitude
romanticism
religion
loss,
death
revenge
class
HER POPULAR POEMS
• “Faith and Despondency”
• “Anticipation”
• “Fall, Leaves, Fall”
• “A Little While, A Little While”
• “Me Thinks this Heart
• Remembrance”
• “A Day Dream”
• “Come, Walk with Me"
• Died of tuberculosis at Haworth on
December 19, 1848. Refusing all
medical attention, she struggled to
perform her household tasks until
the end.
• Letters to her publisher seem to
show that Brontë was working on a
second novel before her death, but
no trace of the manuscript has ever
been found.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT EMILY BRONTE
• Emily Brontë was sometimes unable to speak in public.
• She taught herself German out of books and also practised the piano.
• Emily Brontë was a domestic goddess.
• Gondal - an imaginary world (island) created by Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë
in their youthful juvenilia
• Twelve characters die in her novel.
• Emily Brontë’s father, with whom she lived while writing Wuthering Heights,
did not know she was writing a novel and afterward never read Wuthering
Heights. As for not reading it, that could be realistically attributed to his failing
eyesight.
TRANSLATION – WUTHERING HEIGHTS
I have just returned from a visit to my landlord - the solitary
neighbour that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a
beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could
have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of
society. A perfect misanthropist's heaven: and Mr. Heathcliff
and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation between
us.
TRANSLATION
• I have just returned from a visit to my landlord -
the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.
İnsanlardan kaçan komşumu ve daha sonra başıma bir sürü iş açacak olan
mal sahibimi ziyaretten yeni döndüm. (Osman Çakmakçı- Bordo Siyah),
Ev sahibimi, ileride başıma işler açacak olan bu tek komşumu görmeye
gittim, şimdi oradan geliyorum. (Naciye Akseki Öncül - Can Yayınları)
TRANSLATION
• This is certainly a beautiful country!
Doğruyu söylemek gerekirse oraları gerçekten güzel yerlerdi! (O)
Buraları çok güzel yerler doğrusu! (N)
TRANSLATION
• In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on
a situation so completely removed from the stir of society.
İngiltere’de gürültüden bu kadar uzak başka bir yer daha
olabileceğini hiç sanmıyorum. (O)
Bütün İngiltere'de toplumun hayhuyundan böyle büsbütün uzak bir
yer bulabileceğimi hiç sanmazdım. (N)
TRANSLATION
• A perfect misanthropist's heaven
İnsanlardan kaçan ya da nefret eden biri için adeta cennet gibi bir yer. (O)
İnsanlardan kaçan biri için tam bir cennet. (N)
TRANSLATION
• And
Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide the desolation b
etween us.
Doğrusu, bu sessizliği paylaşacak, Bay Heathcliff’le benden daha uygun
hiç kimse yoktur. (O)
Mr. Heathcliff'le ben bu ıssız yerleri paylaşmak için ne kadar da uygun bir
çiftiz! (N)
References
• https://www.britannica.com/biography/Emily-Bronte
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Bront%C3%AB
• https://www.notablebiographies.com/Br-Ca/Bront-Emily.html
• https://www.thoughtco.com/emily-bronte-biography-3528585
