Overview chapter one -
As a personal narrative, Aurora Leigh begins when the central character is born in Italy to an English father and Tuscan mother. When Aurora Leigh's mother dies, the grieving father withdraws to a mountain cottage, where he educates Aurora in the classics amid the wonders of nature. However, when she is only thirteen, her father dies, and she is taken away from her beloved nurse and sent to England to live with a coldhearted maiden aunt who had not approved of Aurora's mother. There, Aurora is submitted to a conventional female education. Her only comforts are her father's books; her cousin, Romney Leigh; and Romney's friend, the painter Vincent Carrington, who talks of Italy. The expectation is that Aurora will marry Romney, heir to the family estates, and he proposes to her when she is twenty years old.
Criticism -
Perhaps the best summary of the critical reaction to Aurora Leigh is the following quote from William Edmondstoune Aytoun, the famous literary critic for Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine: “With all its faults, this is a remarkable poem; strong in energy, rich in thought, abundant in beauty.” Aytoun had blasted the poem as “fantastic, unnatural, exaggerated” and had found the character of Aurora to be unattractive, some of the language coarse and revolting, and the images often bewilderingly intensified.
Nonetheless, writing in 1857, he felt that Aurora Leigh sustained Browning's high reputation.
Central Theme:
Woman as Artist -
Browning was committed to writing as a woman, so her main character in Aurora Leigh has the same intensity of purpose. Furthermore, the emphasis is on the right of a woman to work as an artist. Aurora rejects Romney's proposal because he sees her role in marriage as a partner in his work, with no room for a career of her own.
Romney also belittles Aurora's work as unimportant compared with his endeavors, so Browning makes sure that Romney fails in his socialist endeavors while Aurora succeeds as a writer and communicator. Thus, the reader is left with the impression that perhaps a poet can indeed have more influence than philanthropist reformers on changes in society.
It is important to the message of the story that Aurora is successful as a poet. In Victorian times, Browning and other female writers complained about the gender prejudice evidenced by critics.
Good luck
2007-10-23 03:14:36
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answer #1
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answered by ari-pup 7
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i like Aurora Danielle...it relatively is wonderful, elegant, stylish, and likewise sounds clever. i do no longer look after Cassidy Leigh, particularly via assessment...it relatively is extra present day and fashionable, and would not have any of the comparable elegance, attractiveness, or femininity. different conceivable middles for Aurora: Aurora Leigh (that's unquestionably the call and heroine of a sturdy e book-length poem via Elizabeth Barrett Browning) Aurora Celeste (Aurora is the Greek daybreak goddess, and Celeste potential sky or heaven, so the names sort of bypass at the same time) Aurora Desiree Aurora Madeleine Aurora Claire Aurora Vivienne Aurora Faye Aurora Pearl
2016-10-04 06:06:56
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answer #2
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answered by furne 4
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