The Poetic World of Emily Bronte
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The Poetic World of Emily Brontë presents selected poems by Emily Brontë, biographical information about her, and insights to Wuthering Heights. The poems are grouped by thematic topic, preceded by discussions of literary context, Brontë’s life, and Wuthering Heights. Interpretations follow each poem enabling any reader to appreciate and enjoy her poetry.
Emily Bronte is best known for her novel, but her poetry is of equal merit and comprises virtually the only other work by her for us to read. The poems are also of great interest in their biographical value; it is a premise of this book that Emily Brontë’s poetry provides otherwise unknowable information about her personality and beliefs. Conversely, the biographical information gives insights to the meaning of her poems. Knowing her poetry also enriches one’s reading of Wuthering Heights. Unlike any other collection of Brontë’s poetry, this book presents selected poems grouped by thematic topic: nature, mutability, love, death, captivity and freedom, hope and despair, imagination, and spirituality. That approach and the accompanying discussions of the poems aim at ensuring that all readers will take meaning from the poems and develop an affinity for them.
Author Bio:
Laura Inman is an independent scholar, free-lance writer, tutor, and retired attorney. Her interest in Victorian literature has led to the publication of two articles on Emily Brontë: “ ‘The Awful Event’ in Wuthering Heights,” Brontë Studies Volume 33, Part 3, November 2008, 19 2002, and“Emily Brontё’s Defeat of Death and Unintended Solace for Grief,” Victorians: Journal of Culture and Literature, No.121, spring 2012. She holds a J.D. from The Law School of the University of Texas at Austin, a B.A. in French from the University of Arizona, and a Masters in English Education from Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. She is a New York State certified teacher in English Language Arts and French. She writes essays and creative pieces for on-line magazines and blogs and for her own blog, thelivingphilosopher.com.
Interview:
Where are you from? Tell us a little about yourself! I grew up in Tucson, Arizona, went to law school at the University of Texas, and wound up practicing law in New York City for seventeen years before retreating to the tranquil suburbs of Rye. I tend to think whatever phase I’m in at the present is best—for a while I loved New York City and now I love Rye. I have a blog, thelivingphilosopher.com, which reveals anything of importance or interest about me because ideas I have on literature, philosophy, life, alcoholism, human nature, etc. have been deposited there in one form or another.
Tell us about your book? How did it get started?
The original purpose of The Poetic World of Emily Brontë was to acquaint readers with Emily Brontë’s poetry and make it accessible to even those who shy away from poetry by putting the poems in context and explaining them. As I wrote it, I became equally interested in biographical elements – using the poems to reveal Brontë’s thoughts and personality and using what I knew of her life and Wuthering Heights to cast light upon the meaning of her poems. As a result, what was a first conceived of as a kind of heavily annotated selection of poems became an investigation into her life and work. Most books of poetry can be read by perusing random poems, whereas this book is best read by turning the pages sequentially. Topics and themes build one on the other to a culminating understanding of Bronte’s world. The reason I thought this book would attract some attention was that I had never come across one with a similar format. Also, I believed that it would serve the important purpose of bringing Brontë’s poetry out of the shadows. Many know of her as the novelist who wrote Wuthering Heights, but few know that she was equally a poet. Underlying all reasons for writing this book is my enduring fascination with the Brontës that I developed ten years ago when I wrote an article on death in Wuthering Heights.
What inspires and what got your started in writing?
For literary writing, I am inspired to write when I think I have found something new about a literary work. When I wrote an article on Wuthering Heights, I had made a discovery about Emily Bronte’s personal numeric symbolism. For my article on Bronte’s poems, I was interested in the untreated topic of the centrality of death in her poetry and how her poetry could serve as consolation for grief. I was inspired to write an article on John Keats when I discovered that Keats’s personal philosophy was in line with the Roman Stoicism of Seneca and that his philosophy influenced themes in his poetry. With regard to my book The Poetic World of Emily Bronte I wanted to write a monograph on Bronte’s poetry which would give a clear understanding of it to readers and allow me to spend long hours reading her work and contemplating her work and life. For other kinds of writing, like blog posts, I am inspired by things I read in the paper or that have happened to me, frequently taking a look at such events from the perspective of Roman Stoicism. I also like to write by assignment, so to speak; if I hear of a writing contest– anything form 200-word fiction, to writing about the way to live a good life, to writing a poem on the subject of noise — I like to write in response and am heedless of “winning” the contest. That’s where having a blog is great—if I want to share my writing, I can do that through the blog or at least have a repository for everything that I consider finished work. As for how I got started in the first place, I don’t think I would have written for publication without the example of my mother’s literary publications and her help in writing my first article. She was a Ph.D. and professor in English, specializing in Victorian literature, at the University of Arizona.
Where do you write? Is there something you need in order to write (music, drinks?) I have a lap top at the kitchen counter where the light is good. I generally write there. I can write in other rooms, in hotels, on airplanes, and in my car while my son is playing soccer. As long as there isn’t noise I can write—a radio or television is a killer. I don’t need any stimulus to creativity (drinking doesn’t help or harm), except some decent amount of sleep helps, so writing in the morning is ideal, especially for anything that is mentally taxing.
What do you like to read?
Obviously, I like to read Emily Brontë. For other poets, I like Shakespeare (his sonnets more than his plays), John Keats, Byron, Tennyson, Shelly, and Swinburne, and some poems from the WWI British poets. For novelists, I enjoy the 19th century writers, in particular, Austen, the Brontes, Eliot, and Trollope. I would not include Dickens, however. I also like the 19th century French author Proper Merimee. I would add to the list of favourites the Americans Wharton and James, and if I were to include somebody modern, I would say that I enjoy a Ken Follett novel. I read the essays and letters of Seneca the way religious people read the Bible, i.e. repeatedly for reminding of what is important. I like reading biographies of writers also, and Andrew Motion’s biography of John Keats is one that I read from time to time. On that note, I read books that I like over and over, sometimes just parts and at times all the way through for the umpteenth time.
What would your advice to be for authors or aspiring in regards to writing?
I don’t see any reason to write unless one can’t feel at peace without doing it. Others might read what one writes, or they might not. An audience is not necessary. As I read in a letter by the Stoic Seneca with regard to an audience: “Few are enough, one is enough, none is enough.” For writing to be satisfying and not frustrating, I think it does require study and practice. First comes reading. No one can write anything without reading the kind of thing he or she intends to write. As a teacher, I was always amazed when the curriculum called for kids to “write a poem” when they had never read any or almost none. That is a pointless exercise in my rather opinionated view. Before John Keats wrote he immersed himself in Shakespeare, Milton, and Dante. When he was not “in cue for writing,” as he phrased it, he would open his Shakespeare. Likewise, at the high school level, students are asked to write essays when they have never read them. They read fiction and then write about it—they should also read a lot of essays about fiction (literary essays) before trying to do that. So in terms of advice — read, practice, and write for yourself.
Anything else you’d like to share?
I write a lot about Wuthering Heights in The Poetic World of Emily Brontë, although my book is ostensibly a discussion of Brontë’s poetry. From time to time in the book, I touch upon one particular aspect of Wuthering Heights—that it is not a love story. I have a mission conferred upon me by myself to dispel the notion that Wuthering Heights is the great love story of Heathcliff and Catherine. That perception is not supported by the text and does not do justice to Brontë’s notions about human nature and romantic love. Maybe that gross mistake about the novel has been the source of so many abominable recreations of the novel for film and television. If only someone would transform the novel into a film and show us as much as possible of the novel as truthfully as possible, giving us all the characters and events as written! If only, if only…
