Emily Brontë

Born

in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, The United Kingdom

July 30, 1818

Died

December 19, 1848

Genre

Fiction

Influences

Charlotte Brontë, Shakespeare, Mary Shelly, John Milton, Walter Scott, ...more

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Emily Jane Brontë was a British novelist and poet, now best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights, a classic of English literature. Emily was the second eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters, being younger than Charlotte Brontë and older than Anne Brontë. She published under the masculine pen name Ellis Bell.

Emily was born in Thornton, near Bradford in Yorkshire to Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell. She was the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children. 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. In childhood, after the death of their mother, the three sisters and their brother Patrick Branwe Emily Jane Brontë was a British novelist and poet, now best remembered for her only novel Wuthering Heights, a classic of English literature. Emily was the second eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters, being younger than Charlotte Brontë and older than Anne Brontë. She published under the masculine pen name Ellis Bell.

Emily was born in Thornton, near Bradford in Yorkshire to Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell. She was the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë and the fifth of six children. 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. 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. Little of Emily's work from this period survived, except for poems spoken by characters (The Brontës' Web of Childhood, Fannie Ratchford, 1941).

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. Later, with her sister Charlotte, she attended a private school in Brussels. They later tried to open up a school at their home, but had no pupils.

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. To evade contemporary prejudice against female writers, the Brontë sisters adopted androgynous first names. All three retained the first letter of their first names: Charlotte became Currer Bell, Anne became Acton Bell, and Emily became Ellis Bell. In 1847, she published her only novel, Wuthering Heights, as two volumes of a three volume set (the last volume being Agnes Grey by her sister Anne). Its innovative structure somewhat puzzled critics. Although it received mixed reviews when it first came out, the book subsequently became an English literary classic. In 1850, Charlotte edited and published Wuthering Heights as a stand-alone novel and under Emily's real name.

Like her sisters, Emily's health had been weakened by the harsh local climate at home and at school. She caught a chill during the funeral of her brother in September, and, having refused all medical help, died on December 19, 1848 of tuberculosis, possibly caught from nursing her brother. She was interred in the Church of St. Michael and All Angels family capsule, Haworth, West Yorkshire, England. ...more

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Average rating: 3.81 · 857,826 ratings · 22,937 reviews · 110 distinct works · Similar authors

	Wuthering Heights 3.80 avg rating — 838,061 ratings — published 1847 — 1923 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wuthering Heights & Jane Eyre by Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë 4.29 avg rating — 5,553 ratings — published 1847 — 28 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Wuthering Heights, Agnès Grey & Villette by Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë 3.97 avg rating — 2,049 ratings — published 2004	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Complete Poems by Emily Brontë, C.W. Hatfield (Editor), Irene Taylor (Foreword by) 4.11 avg rating — 1,768 ratings — published 1906 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Best Poems of the Brontë Sisters by Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë 4.02 avg rating — 518 ratings — published 1902 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Night is Darkening Round Me 3.79 avg rating — 485 ratings — published 2015 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Bronte Sisters - The Complete Novels + Extras by Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Charlotte Brontë 4.38 avg rating — 276 ratings — published 1920	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Brontës: Three Great Novels: Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë 4.31 avg rating — 261 ratings — published 1982 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	مرتفعات ويذرنج - الجزء الأول by Emily Brontë, إيميلي برونتي, حلمي مراد (ترجمة) 3.97 avg rating — 218 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Poems of Solitude by Emily Brontë, Helen Dunmore (Foreword by) 4.04 avg rating — 158 ratings — published 2004 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Emily Brontë…

Quotes by Emily Brontë

“He's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.”
― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

tags: love

6425 likes

“If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.”
― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

tags: loss, love

5476 likes

“Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I can not live without my life! I can not live without my soul!”
― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

tags: love

2458 likes

See all Emily Brontë's quotes »

Polls

This is the Poll for the July Classics Read.

The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

20 votes, 18.5%

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

12 votes, 11.1%

Persuasion by Jane Austen

11 votes, 10.2%

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

10 votes, 9.3%

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

9 votes, 8.3%

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

9 votes, 8.3%

Dracula by Bram Stoker

8 votes, 7.4%

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

8 votes, 7.4%

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

7 votes, 6.5%

Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

5 votes, 4.6%

Germinal by Émile Zola

4 votes, 3.7%

The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

3 votes, 2.8%

Westward Ho! or, the Voyages and Adventures of Sir Amyas Leigh, Knight, of Burrough by Charles Kingsley

2 votes, 1.9%

108 total votes

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