Aurora Leigh (1856) is Elizabeth Barrett Browning's novel-in-verse, a nine-book Künstlerroman tracing a woman poet from Anglo-Italian childhood to artistic authority. In supple blank verse, it fuses epic ambition with the Victorian social problem novel: debates with Romney Leigh intersect the ordeal of Marian Erle, exposing poverty, sexual coercion, and the limits of philanthropy. Allusive to Milton and Dante yet alert to journalism and the city, the poem makes modern life the true field of epic. Browning-erudite, politically engaged, and writing from Casa Guidi in Florence after her elopement with Robert Browning-conceived the work as a "poem of the age." Her abolitionism, concern for labor and women's rights, experience of exile and illness, and admiration from figures like Ruskin shaped its insistence that female authorship and public reform belong together. Recommended to readers of Victorian literature, poetry, and feminist criticism, Aurora Leigh offers a masterclass in how form carries social argument. Its hybrid design suits seminars on epic and the novel, while its portraits of work, love, and responsibility speak urgently to artists and citizens now.
Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable-distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Author Biography · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.
