Emily Brontë

Author:
Emily Brontë

Date of birth: 30-Jul-1818
Place of birth: Thornton, Yorkshire UK

About the author:
Emily Brontë (1818–1848) was an English novelist and poet best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, a dark and passionate tale of love and revenge set on the Yorkshire moors. Despite her brief life, Emily’s work has had a lasting impact on English literature and continues to be widely studied and admired.

Born on July 30, 1818, in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, Emily was the fifth of six children in the Brontë family. After the early deaths of her mother and two older sisters, Emily was raised primarily alongside her siblings—Charlotte, Anne, Branwell, and Elizabeth—in the isolated village of Haworth. The siblings shared a rich imaginative life, creating elaborate fictional worlds and stories.

Emily attended the Clergy Daughters' School but returned home due to illness. Unlike her sisters, who wrote both novels and poetry, Emily was primarily focused on poetry in her early years. However, in 1847, she published Wuthering Heights under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, at a time when female authors often adopted male pen names.

Initially met with mixed reviews due to its intense emotion and unconventional structure, Wuthering Heights later gained recognition as a masterpiece of English literature, noted for its complex characters and exploration of themes such as passion, revenge, social class, and the supernatural.

Emily Brontë was a deeply private and somewhat reclusive person, preferring the solitude of the moors to society. She died young from tuberculosis on December 19, 1848, at the age of 30, just a year after the publication of her novel.

Though her literary output was limited, Emily Brontë’s work, especially Wuthering Heights, has left an indelible mark on the literary world, influencing countless writers and captivating readers with its raw power and haunting beauty.