To evade contemporary prejudice against female writers, the Brontë sisters adopted androgynous first names. It was the discovery of Emily's poetic talent by Charlotte that led her and her sisters, Charlotte and Anne, to publish a joint collection of their poetry in 1846, Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. They later tried to open up a school at their home, but had no pupils. Later, with her sister Charlotte, she attended a private school in Brussels. In 1842, Emily commenced work as a governess at Miss Patchett's Ladies Academy at Law Hill School, near Halifax, leaving after about six months due to homesickness. Little of Emily's work from this period survived, except for poems spoken by characters (The Brontës' Web of Childhood, Fannie Ratchford, 1941).

In childhood, after the death of their mother, the three sisters and their brother Patrick Branwell Brontë created imaginary lands (Angria, Gondal, Gaaldine, Oceania), which were featured in stories they wrote. In 1824, the family moved to Haworth, where Emily's father was perpetual curate, and it was in these surroundings that their literary oddities flourished.

She was the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children. She published under the masculine pen name Ellis Bell.Įmily was born in Thornton, near Bradford in Yorkshire to Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell. Emily was the second eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters, being younger than Charlotte Brontë and older than Anne Brontë. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850.Īlthough Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English literature, contemporary reviews for the novel were deeply polarised it was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day regarding religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality.The English poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, although an admirer of the book, referred to it as 'A fiend of a book – an incredible monster The action is laid in hell, – only it seems places and people have English names there.'Įmily Jane Brontë was an English novelist and poet, now best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights, a classic of English literature. Written between October 1845 and June 1846, Wuthering Heights was published in 1847 under the pseudonym 'Ellis Bell' Brontë died the following year, aged 30. Wuthering Heights and Anne Brontë's Agnes Grey were accepted by publisher Thomas Newby before the success of their sister Charlotte'snovel, Jane Eyre.

Wuthering Heights is Emily Brontë's only novel.

English poet emily wuthering heights