Episode 839: Elizabeth Barrett Browning with Fiona Sampson

In 1845, Edgar Allan Poe wrote, in a review of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's work, "Her poetic inspiration is the highest – we can conceive of nothing more august. Her sense of Art is pure in itself." Later that year, he dedicated his collection The Raven and Other Poems to her, calling her "the noblest of her sex."

In Episode 839, Jacke is joined by the alumni of the first-ever History of Literature Podcast Tour for a lively discussion with poet and biographer Fiona Sampson (Two Way Mirror: The Life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning) about this esteemed Victorian-era poet.

For more about Browning, take a listen to Episode 95: The Runaway Poets, in which Jacke takes a look at the story of the young Elizabeth Barrett and her romance with Robert Browning.

Here's some backstory: Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861) was one of the most prolific and accomplished poets of the Victorian age, an inspiration to Emily Dickinson, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, and countless others. And yet, her life was full of cloistered misery, as her father insisted that she should never marry. And then, the clouds lifted, and a letter arrived. It was from the poet Robert Browning (1812-1889), admiring her from afar, declaring his love. How did these two poets find each other? What kind of life did they share afterwards? And what dark secrets had led to her father’s restrictions…and how might that have affected his daughter’s poetry?