Elizabeth Barrett Browning was the daughter of Mary Graham Clarke and Edward Moulton Barrett, a very wealthy landowner who owned sugar 1)plantations in Jamaica. Her mother died when Elizabeth was just 22, after having given birth to 12 children. Although Elizabeth, the eldest, was probably her father's favorite child, she struggled under his 2)tyrannical parenting. Incredibly controlling, Mr. Barrett insisted that none of his children marry, 3)baffling even the family's closest friends.
To add to her difficulties, from the time she was a teenager, Elizabeth suffered from a mysterious illness that caused her to be 4)frail and weak, unable to leave her house. In fact, she rarely left her room, and believed that she was destined to forever remain a sickly 5)shut-in and 6)spinster. When Robert Browning first began to 7)court Barrett—through their 8)correspondence— she seemed to enjoy the relationship, but was unwilling to believe that he could really be interested in her.
Robert Browning, the son of Robert and Sarah Anna Browning, was a direct and 9)ardent suitor. But despite his obvious 10)affection and the 11)mutual admiration displayed in their letters, Elizabeth refused to see him until the spring—months after their first contact—as the cold weather of the winter made her health poor. The couple's first meeting occurred in May 1845, after five months of regular correspondence. It is believed that Browning wrote to Barrett immediately afterward to declare his affection, but this letter has not survived. Elizabeth, sickly and so long in 12)isolation, found it difficult to trust his intentions. Despite the obstacles, Browning's visits continued, though always when Elizabeth's father was not at home.
In the summer of 1845, Barrett's doctor recommended that she travel to Pisa, in Italy, for the winter because he felt sure that she would not survive another harsh season in London. Her father, for unknown reasons, refused to allow the trip. After writing to Browning about her 13)predicament, he wrote back, saying, “I would marry you now.” Instead of 14)dismissing him as she had done before, she embraced his 15)sentiments. They continued to see each other regularly, and, thanks to an unseasonably warm winter, Barrett's health began to improve. In January 1846, Elizabeth took a major step toward recovery by leaving the room where she had spent the last six years of her life.
By May 1846, Barrett began to walk outside and, in her letters, 16)credited Browning for having a large part in her recovery. By summer, she was living a much more active life. On September 12th, Barrett and Browning were married. The wedding was held in secret. Although she was then 40 years old, Barrett lived in fear of her father's wrath if he found out that she was disobeying his order not to marry. When her 17)deception was revealed, she was 18)disinherited by her father.
Just a week after their marriage, the Brownings left London for Italy, where they would spend the next 15 years of their lives. Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) was written during their courtship and early marriage and is about her dramatic romance with Browning, and how he helped her save herself from a life of sickness and isolation.
In Italy, both poets would enjoy many productive years of writing, as well as the birth of their son, Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning, in 1849. She completed a second edition of Poems, as well as Casa Guidi Windows (1851), Poems before Congress (1860), and her well known 19)verse-novel, Aurora Leigh (1856). He published Men and Women (1855), which was 20)dedicated to his wife and is considered to contain his best poetry. They remained in Italy for 15 years, until Elizabeth died in her husband's arms on June 29th, 1861.
Nowadays, Casa Guidi, the Brownings' home in Florence, Italy, has been preserved and is open to visitors.