June 29th

On this day in 1861 the writer and poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning died aged fifty-five.

Considered one of the leading poets of the Victorian era, she suffered from ill health for most of her life and after marrying Robert Browning in 1846, lived in Italy where she grew stronger and bore a son.

Elizabeth's family held plantations in Jamaica and though this was the source of much wealth, she became an abolitionist campaigner as well as promoting women’s rights in general. Her poetry was so well regarded that she was in contention to become Poet Laureate at one time (the post was given to Tennyson). H

ere is an example from her work Sonnets From The Portuguese (Browning used to call her 'My little Portuguese'): How Do I Love Thee?