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Glass Towns and Graveyards: A Biography of Charlotte Brontë Essays

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Brontë noted that, after discovering a manuscript written by Emily in 1845, her sister's poems were not “at all like the poetry women generally write” and carried “a peculiar music – wild, melancholy, and elevating.” Brontë, along with her sisters, began using pseudonyms in 1846 with the publication of Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. According to Charlotte, the wide audience believed that these three pseudonyms related to one person; she wrote Biographical Notes on the Pseudonymous Bells in response. Charlotte Brontë's most famous work, Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, was published in 1847 under the pen name Currer Bell. Charlotte met much more opposition while trying to get her first novel published than her sisters did, later …show more content…

Both novels were written in first-person; Shirley was written in third-person and, at least partially due to this deviation, was not as well received as Jane Eyre and Villette. Brontë married Arthur Bell Nicholls in June 1854. She initially was reluctant to marry him, but after encouragement from contemporary author and friend Elizabeth Gaskell as well as the improvement of Nicholls's financial situation, Brontë accepted. Brontë became pregnant soon after the marriage. However, Brontë's heath soon took a sharp turn for the worse. Brontë and her unborn child died on March 31, 1855, in Haworth. Bronte was 38 years old. The exact cause of her death is disputed. Her death certificate claims that she died of phthisis, but several historians agree that Brontë may have died from complications caused by morning sickness. Some also point to typhus fever as a probable cause of death. Brontë was the last of her siblings to die and was interred in the Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Haworth, alongside her family. Her father died in 1861; her husband died in 1906. Brontë's 20-page manuscript of Emma Brown was left uncompleted at her death. Work on this novel had begun as early as 1853 but was delayed by Brontë's marriage and illness. A fourth novel by Brontë, The Professor: A Tale, was published posthumously in 1857. Controversy began in 1913 when love letters written by Brontë to

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