Project Calm – July 2019

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BRONTË SISTERS

Authors of novels including Jane Eyre, Wuthering

Heights and Vilette, the Brontë sisters were a 19th-

century literary powerhouse. The sisterhood was

essential, as for them writing began as a united sibling

escape to other worlds. They lost their mother at

a young age, as well as two elder sisters, and were

often isolated in the Yorkshire moors home they

shared with their brother Branwell, Anglican priest

father and aunt. Their imagination led the Brontës

to creating fictional and fantastical worlds in poetry,

plays and stories, such as Glass Town, Angria and

Gondal, filled with social and political intrigue,

romance and parody. In 1846 the sisters published

a volume of poetry together at their own expense,

and under pseudonyms. Later, the stories created at

the parsonage were said to have provided a pot of

inspiration for their later literary classics. Words always

provided a comfort and freedom.

Charlotte (1816-1855), Emily (1818-1848) and Anne (1820-1849)

“I am no bird; and no

net ensnares me: I am

a free human being with

an independent will.”

JANE EYRE, CHARLOTTE BRONTË

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