Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Woman's Independent Identity
When Barrett Browning speaks of love, unlike her fellow poets (mostly male), she is dealing with a boundless emotion rather than something that acts as a means to an end.
Nineteenth century romantic poet, Barrett Browning, speaks of love in her works in a way that is considered unfiltered characteristically, emotionally charged as her words were displayed as they are, without altering as an afterthought. Love was a natural facet to Browning, and was freely expressed as variety of feelings as a plethora of personal expression and individual thinking. Her poetry was considered unconventional at the time of publication, yet despite this she was highly regarded amongst her peers for her ability to effectively capture and communicate an array of emotion to the reader. Browning’s artistic form was unlike other poets of the era, particularly her male counterparts as they idealised creating an unmistakable atmosphere through visual imagery rather than explicitly conveying emotion. These contrasting forms were straightforward and simplistic to be comfortably comprehendible to the reader, with heavy use of metaphorical language to bring universal meaning from their own experiences, and to embody themes of beauty to a poems expression. They had an underlying goal with the intention to transport the audience to the poets own envisioning.
One similarity that Browning shares with her fellow poets was the ingrained inability to perceive a woman’s own independent identity, defining them purely on their relationships with men. Male poets, such as Tennyson, often solely defined women through their relationships with (or the absence of) a man, and objectified them as objects of beauty. Barrett Browning unwittingly reinforced this ideology somewhat; women in her poetry were treated in much the same way. Her poem ‘Love’ describes the idea, in a spiritual sense, that to be in love is to be two halves of the same whole, a gift of balance; “But when a soul, by choice and conscience, doth Throw out her full force on another soul, The conscience and the concentration both Make mere life, Love. For Life in perfect whole” – Excerpt from: ‘Love’, Barrett Browning.
In reflection of her poetic works, particularly the poem ‘Love’, the complexity of her emotional expression and reasoning does provide some evidence that her perception of ‘love’ and the acknowledgement of choice was a way in which she expressed independent attitudes and defined herself, lighting a way for more feminist values through social and political advocacy through poetic forms.
