Daily Archives: June 29, 2020

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Once Said…

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Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6, 1806 and died on June 29, 1861. Elizabeth was an English poet who inspired both Edgar Allen Poe and Emily Dickinson. She was married to another poet, Robert Browning.

The denial of contemporary genius is the rule rather than the exception. No one counts the eagles in the nest, till there is a rush of wings; and lo! they are flown. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

It’s not an easy thing to try to interpret was Elizabeth meant with this poem or piece of writing but I believe it’s about how people aren’t taken seriously until they are adults or ready to fly on their own. At least that’s what I gathered from it. I think there is a certain amount of truth to that because we need time to learn and while when we’re teenagers think that we know everything there’s so much that is learned when we go out on our own.

Yet half the beast is the great god Pan. To laugh, as he sits by the river. Making a poet out of a man. The true gods sigh for the cost and the pain. For the reed that grows never more again. As a reed with the reeds of the river. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth again has an interesting way with words and I’m sure there are several interpretations to what she was talking about. The great god Pan described as beast could be the mythological god Pan which was a God of nature and the wilds. Perhaps it would be how nature or the wild influenced her poetry. I know that when I come in contact with nature whether it be plants or animals or storms or any other part, when I feel myself connect to nature it’s a feeling like none other.

Enough! We’re tired , my heart and I . We sit beside the headstone thus. And wish that name were carved for us. The moss reprints more tenderly. The hard types of the mason’s knife. As Heaven’s sweet life renews earth’s life. With which we’re tired, my heart and I. In this abundant earth no doubt. Is little room for things worn out. Disdain them, break them, throw them by! And if before the days grew rough. We once were loved, used, well enough, I think we’ve fared, my heart and I. – Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth spoke or wrote a poem about visiting someone’s grave that she loved and talked of how she how she felt and wished it wasn’t that person that passed and I know from personal experience I think many people who are grieving or have grieved have felt something similar. It’s part of the process of grief.