Emily Bronte :: Biography

Three children sit in a circle playing with wooden toy soldiers. The world these children play in is not Earth, but worlds of their own creating. The children in this circle will grow up to be some of the best eighteenth century writers. It is no surprise that as a child Emily Bronte and her siblings had active imaginations. They created the worlds of Gondal, Emily and Anne’s creation; and Angria, Charlotte’s creation (White 12). The world does not know much about Emily Bronte except what can be concluded from Charlotte Bronte’s autobiography (Winnitrith 111). She was born July 30, 1818 in Yorkshire, England. At the young age of thirty, Emily developed tuberculosis and died on December 19, 1848 (Magill 56). Her potential had yet to be reached. C.D. Merriman from The Literature Network said, â€Å"Many early works from her past were lost – only 3 personal letters exist from her possessions.† Emily was influenced by many people including her mother and father. Her father, Reverend Patrick Bronte, was a school teacher (Magill 56). Patrick Bronte had a humble beginning; he went to Cambridge University and worked in order to pay for his stay. Her father was looked down upon for being middle class in a high-class school. Emily’s stories feature a strong value of education and deal with injustices of society, which is believed to have originated from her father’s troubles. (White 8) â€Å"Emily’s mother, Maria Bronte died from internal cancer when Emily was only three,† according to The Victorian Web (Allingham). Kathryn White said, â€Å"The Bronte children felt the loss of their mother keenly, for though they never really remembered her. Her absence in their lives is reflected in the number of orphaned and motherless children who were featured in their early writings and novels.†(21) Despite the fact Emily never knew her mother; she characterized Catherine Earnshaw as having a similar sentiment about being more attached to the earth than to Heaven. (White 19). In November 1824, Patrick Bronte felt that his daughters needed a proper education so he sent his girls to Clergy’s Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge. This school was rigid, had poor hygiene, and lack of a good diet. He withdrew his girls after Maria and Elizabeth died from inadequate care. Although Emily had a poor experience at school, education became an escape route in many of Emily’s writings (White 5-25). Emily, Charlotte, Anne, and Branwell grew up in Haworth.