Born on March 6, 1806, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was the oldest of 12 children and enjoyed a privileged existence as a child in County Durham, England. With access to her family’s extensive educational resources, she showed an early love of literature and a talent for writing, composing a four-book poem titled The Battle of Marathon by the age of 14. After a youth fraught with personal illnesses and tragedies such as the untimely deaths of two of her brothers, Samuel and Edward, Elizabeth embraced a rather isolated existence until her forays into published poetry garnered the attention of the poet Robert Browning. Her relationship with Robert Browning featured in her acclaimed collection of love sonnets titled “Sonnets from the Portuguese” (1850), while her poem “How Do I Love Thee?” is often considered one of the most beautiful poems written in the English language. Elizabeth’s and Robert’s courtship proceeded quickly in an intense series of letters, and they soon married without the knowledge or blessing of Elizabeth’s family, who permanently disowned her upon learning of the marriage.

After moving to Florence, Italy, in 1846, the couple had a son named Robert. They developed a wide social circle, which included many of the philosophers and poets of the day, including Alfred Lord Tennyson and John Ruskin.