Nicely Timed on Valentine's Day
February 23, 2012 1:35 PM   Subscribe

Have you ever wanted to read a famous correspondence between famous poets? No doubt you have heard of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning and their secret correspondence and marriage, which led directly to Elizabeth Barrett being disinherited. Now you can read those letters, released digitally on February 14, 2012.

Wellesley College, long the holder of many of the letters, worked in partnership with Baylor University, itself the repositiory of much of Browning's work, to digitize the letters. And here they are.
posted by bearwife (9 comments total) 24 users marked this as a favorite
 
bearwife, I swear you were born in the wrong century!
posted by Danf at 1:46 PM on February 23, 2012


No, because if she were, she wouldn't have been able to read (or even know about) those letters. :)
posted by Malor at 1:50 PM on February 23, 2012


/s/were/weren't/
posted by Malor at 1:51 PM on February 23, 2012


[Relevant self-link alert] Harvard's Houghton Library just posted (V-Day as well, in fact) an online exhibition on the love letters between John Keats and Fanny Brawne.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 2:04 PM on February 23, 2012


Seems Mr. Browning is afraid of using full-stops, makes reading his long letters incredibly difficult, indeed I feel breathless just thinking about his incredibly long sentences: he isn't at all impeded in his use of other punctuation-and his circumlocution, while oft labyrinthine in its nature, is enjoyable to cast ones eye over, however the length of his sentences, as previously mentioned, detracts from the overall reading pleasure I hoped to derive from prying into his most personal and sincere letters of admiration.
posted by stephencarr at 2:47 PM on February 23, 2012 [4 favorites]


Why did I just KNOW that NYT article was going to start with a crack about text messaging?

Meanwhile, I've always liked James Joyce's take on the love letter. [NSFW text]
posted by chavenet at 3:42 PM on February 23, 2012


How do I love thee? Let me blog the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
of my Facebook friends, even when I'm offline.
And I will tweet thee into darkness.
I love thee so much I would favorite thee
Twice if I could, and if I were drunk enough.
I love thee easily, because I can click a button.
I love thee purely, because I'm not really sure who you are.
I love thee with my best HTML, because you deserve it.
* FREE V1@GrA *
I love thee with a love I lost when I canceled cable.
Without TV shows, I turned to the Web.
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall love thee in a Meetup where no posts are deleted.
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:35 PM on February 23, 2012 [2 favorites]


I've always liked James Joyce's take on the love letter.

Kate Beaton, not quite so much.
posted by Zozo at 7:11 PM on February 23, 2012


Nice post - thanks bearwife.
posted by honey-barbara at 7:55 PM on February 23, 2012


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