Talk:Emily Brontë

Wuthering Heights
I don't understand the statement that Wuthering Heights was two parts of a three part novel, the last part being Agnes Gray. Agnes Gray was written by Anne Bronte, not Emily Bronte, so needless to say, this is a very confusing statement.

Just to clarify: Wuthering Heights was published with Agnes Grey (even though they are by two of the sisters, not one) in a 3 volume set by Thomas Cautley Newby in 1847. I presume the contributer means that Agnes Grey occupied only the last of the 3 volumes, whilst WH occupied the first 2 vols. I've changed the word 'part' for 'volume' and 'book' for 'set' and added that AG was by Anne. Is that a bit clearer?

Dave the Monkey
This 'Dave the Monkey' isn't true, is it? "Her favorite stuffed toy, Dave the Monkey, was interred with her, but was subsequently removed and placed in the Haworth Parsonage museum." QueenStupid 03:39, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
 * I greatly doubt a victorian child would have named a toy 'Dave'. It's a rather modern name. MichaelKeefe 09:26, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

EncyMind (talk) 23:17, 22 June 2011 (UTC) I don't know whether it is true, but I can speak to whether a toy at that time could be called "Dave" by using a Thomas Jefferson example. He was known as Tom Jefferson by his friends and family. He had a pet mockingbird named Dick. I think we consider names like Tom, Dick and Dave as modern when they truly are not.

Original publications
Just curious-This article says Charlotte edited Wuthering Heights and then published it as a stand-alone novel. Does anyone know how extensively she edited, and can the original publications be found anywhere? J&#39;aimeOlivier 18:55, 12 April 2007 (UTC)
 * As far as I know Charlotte just simplified Joseph's dialect for non-Yorkshire readers and took out some swear words. Today's editions, however, are usually based on Emily's original text.--87.162.183.14 (talk) 12:12, 21 September 2008 (UTC)


 * There are far more changes than just to Joseph's dialect. One that I specifically remember reading about was when Cathy Snr was dying, and she referred to her soul and its 'inhabitants'. When Charlotte edited the book, she changed this to read 'inhabitant', but it was specifically written as a plural to show the connection between Heathcliff and Cathy. KillerKat (talk) 18:45, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Are you sure that was not just one of the famous typos made by the sloppy editors which were corrected by Charlotte who must have known Emilys original work? We cannot be sure as the handwritten manuscript of WH is lost. The passage reads: "To be sure, one might have doubted, after the wayward and impatient existence she had led, whether she merited a haven of peace at last. One might doubt in seasons of cold reflection; but not then, in the presence of her corpse. It asserted its own tranquillity, which seemed a pledge of equal quiet to its former inhabitant." and it is Nelly Dean who is talking, not Catherine. As Nelly is a conventional Christian, she would have said that each living body has only one soul inside.
 * Anyway, it is true that some expressions were edited by Charlotte as well: Emily wrote "Gimmerton kirk" which Charlotte changed into "Gimmerton churchyard", Hindley was originally called "the desperate being" and later "the desperate man" and so on. All in all, however, Charlotte did not interfere with the actual content of the book. And today one can decide whether one wants to buy Emily's original text (minus typos) or Charlottes edition (the publishers' notes normally tell you which edition was used.) PS: Don't get me wrong - it may well be that Emily wanted to have a plural and Charlotte only thought it to be a typo (though I think that is unlikely). Still, all we have is theories and interpretations.--87.162.187.239 (talk) 06:02, 8 October 2008 (UTC)


 * It wasn't actually my theory; it was listed in the notes that accompanied my version of the book: the Penguin Classics edition. KillerKat (talk) 22:49, 10 October 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, then it is the personal interpretation/theory of the Penguin editor which cannot be taken for certain and is not beyond criticism by other scholars. They won't have asked Charlotte or Emily, will they?;-) So what we do know is: in the first edition incl. "Agnes Grey" there is said to have been a plural form, in later editions we find the singular (even in today's editions which use Emily's original text).The rest is open to interpretation.--87.162.195.232 (talk) 05:23, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

Rabid dog story
I once read a foreword that described Emily Bronte's strength. The words "stoic" and "defiant" were in there. It described an incident in which she'd been bitten by a rabid dog and cauterized the wound herself. No one knew until someone saw the scars. Maybe we can mention this trait in her bio? I don't have the book anymore and can't find a good source on the net. 24.211.249.43 05:33, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Could it be Winifrid Gerins biography, titled 'Emily Bronte' ?


 * This is mentioned in my version (which I'm in the middle of reading). It's the Penguin Classics version with extra notes in the back. It's mentioned on page 342, referring to page 49. "She did not yell out: Catherine's courage is reminiscent of Emily's own fearlessness with dogs. In one incident, later immortalized by Charlotte in Shirley, Emily used a 'red-hot Italian iron' to cauterize a wound she sustained from a dog suspected of having rabies. In another, she disciplined her dog Keeper, well-known for his 'ferocity of nature', by delivering a savage beating with her bare hands before then comforting the chastened animal. (Elizabeth Gaskell, The Life of Charlotte Bronte, pp. 184-5.)"
 * I don't know how you'd reference that! KillerKat (talk) 04:06, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

harsh climate?
It's not that harsh is it? Yorkshire weather is drier than Lancashire, for example. Is there any evidence for "the harsh local climate at home and at school"? Why school particularly? Just how localized are we being here?--Shantavira|feed me 08:53, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

"Emily's health, like her sisters', had been weakened by the harsh local climate at home and at school. She caught a cold during the funeral of her brother in September, which led to tuberculosis." These sentences are unsatisfactory for multiple reasons: "weakened health" is an imprecise term, the idea that bad weather causes illness is not true, the idea that a cold can lead to tuberculosis is not true, and the sentences are unreferenced. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 137.54.20.51 (talk) 14:49, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

im reading wuthering heights right now. it is a barnes and noble classic and the introduction is by daphne merkin. in chapter VI, mrs dean tells of how heathcliff returned without ms cathy. he tells her about how the dog attacked her ankle and she remain until morning. here is where you will find a footnote, and in the back of the book it explains about how emily bronte herse;f was attacked by a dog when she was younger. i hope thats what you were looking for. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kylax02h (talk • contribs) 19:01, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

New file File:Emily Brontë by Patrick Branwell Brontë restored.jpg
Recently the file File:Emily Brontë by Patrick Branwell Brontë restored.jpg (right) was uploaded and it appears to be relevant to this article and not currently used by it. If you're interested and think it would be a useful addition, please feel free to include it. Dcoetzee 06:51, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Harsh climate at Haworth
I have been to Haworth in the late summer. Storms come suddenly over the moors and are quite violent.

What many don't realize about the conditions under which they lived is that they lived in the parsonage, right next to the graveyard. Decaying flesh perked downwards, contaminating the drinking supply - they were on wells, of course. Tuberculosis, typhus and a host of other diseases spread easily in these unsanitary conditions. Whatever disease a person died from went directly into the drinking water.

They lived in a stone home that was quite drafty. There was no central heating. There were no fans to circulate heat from the fireplace around the rooms. Most rooms did not have fireplaces. Winters are harsh on the moors, and, I can assure you the Bronte sisters knew bone-chilling cold.

They also lived during and after the Year Without a Summer. The effects of that weather anomaly were felt for quite some time, both environmentally and economically.

EncyMind (talk) 23:13, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Tuberculosis, typhus, and hosts of other diseases do NOT spread to living humans from corpses. They certainly would NOT infect humans after the body decayed and leaked into the water system. TB, in particular, has to be contracted through the air. Bacteria die quickly when their host dies — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.194.51.226 (talk) 23:28, 28 July 2018 (UTC)

The Importance of "Place" in the writing and life of Emily Brontë

 * Recently, a user not familiar with the writing and analysis of Brontë's work deleted all images showing the moors and Haworth, believing them to be decorative only and having no literary or encyclopedic value.


 * For those unfamiliar with the importance of literary motifs and, specifically, the use of them in Brontë's work, here is a nice introductory discussion of Wuthering Heights that examines some of them:


 * http://www.shmoop.com/wuthering-heights/symbolism-imagery.html


 * In addition, here is a Google Scholar search for Emily Brontë + moors. You will have to wade through the numerous citations for journal articles on the importance of the moors in her life and character development, but it is standard fare in Brontë scholarship.  No discussion of her life or work would be complete without it.


 * http://scholar.google.com/scholar?start=10&q=%22Emily+Bronte%22+%22moors%22&hl=en&as_sdt=0,39


 * Others have mentioned the problem of grave seepage and the health of the family and villagers. I will be working on this to provide good citations.  Yes, it was true.  The seepage of rotting flesh went directly into the water supply, so, any diseases that the decaying corpses had that survived the putrefaction process would enter the water supply.  Several of the deleted images showed the graveyard and the Brontë parsonage.  Unless you have been to Haworth, you cannot appreciate how close the graves were to the home - their well would have been immediately contaminated as the microbes perced downward.  In these unsanitary conditions, death was prevalent, as can clearly be evidenced within the Brontë family itself.  I will enter this information, but not until I have the proper citations to verify the facts.


 * The Brontë's found the village oppressive. The stench of decaying flesh was pervasive.  The grit and filth of 19th century life clung to the buildings (most of which have been cleaned in the 20th century).  To escape that oppressiveness, they took to the surrounding moors and valleys.  These figured prominently in all of their writing - "place" becoming personified as characters.  Unfortunately, the Wikimedia Commons images were all deleted by the user who is unfamiliar with literary motifs and devices and Brontë scholarship itself.


 * EncyMind (talk) 16:06, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Quote boxes
I've reverted and removed the quote boxes. Aside from displaying not well, (very thin!), they're better suited for the Wuthering Heights page instead of Bronte's biography, imo. Please discuss before edit warring. Truthkeeper88 (talk) 18:38, 29 June 2011 (UTC)


 * Really, Truthkeeper. Male authors have important quotes from their works.  Look at the Keats entry.  Those are two of the most famous quotes from her work.  What is going on here? Would someone tell me how many images are allowed for female authors?  Clearly, it is not the same for the male authors.  EncyMind (talk) 19:01, 29 June 2011 (UTC)


 * It has nothing to do with male/female. I'm a woman and wrote the Hemingway page - with quote boxes. Personally I like them; lots of people don't. I took down this one because it's not well formatted, but that can be fixed. I'd rather see more scholarly content added to the page to expand it a bit, and then re-add quote-boxes if warranted. Truthkeeper88 (talk) 19:13, 29 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Regarding the images - it's an question of policy. You might want to read WP:MOSIM - the longer the page, the more images it can hold. Other things, such as relevance to the text, whether or not the image is free content, are all taken into consideration. These things happen and it's best to try to work them out by discussing them. I'll keep an eye on the discussion. Truthkeeper88 (talk) 19:17, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

New story
At the time of typing, hasn't there been a recent story discovered by Bronte that was written in French? If this information is accurate and can be sourced, it would help to update the article if it could be added to it. ACEOREVIVED (talk) 09:24, 1 March 2012 (UTC)
 * There was this recently about Charlotte which you may be thinking of. Keith D (talk) 13:48, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

For reference only, search results
Surprisingly close, closer than Charlotte Bronte, but the WP:COMMONNAME is still "Emily Bronte" without the accent and should be moved according to WP:DIACRITICS. In ictu oculi (talk) 17:37, 28 August 2012 (UTC)
 * "Emily Bronte" -Brontë About 7,030,000 results
 * "Emily Brontë" -Bronte About 6,650,000 results
 * There is no need for discussion on this, this is just a marker applying the exercise frequently applied to foreigners' names to a native English person's name. In ictu oculi (talk) 10:10, 29 August 2012 (UTC)

Details about Emily
Hi. Here is some interesting information about Emily: Emily Bronte was a very striking and lovable personality. A tall, thin, sallow, stooping, silent girl, in ill fitting, old fashioned dress, strangers saw her—they may have noted with the rare uplifting of the downcast lids the beautiful liquid eyes—and never dreamed of the fire, energy and vivacity that plain exterior hid. See her at home—upon the moors with her dogs at heel; the long limbs under the "slinky" dress move with a wild free grace. She whistles like a boy; she charms her sisters with the flash and pathos of her talk—possibly if is only a pool of tadpoles she chases about with her hand that suggests the quaint conceits, the wisdom and the humor, and, herself fearless, she delights to lure the timid Charlotte to some far-off hollow, and on their return home to tell her of some wild creature that lurked near. She loved nature; with bird and beast she had the most intimate relations, and from her walks she often came with fledgling or young rabbit in hand, talking softly to it, quite sure, too, that it understood. Never was there her parallel in anything. A deep and earnest student of German, a pianist of wonderful fire and brilliancy, a writer of marvelous promise, she did willingly and untiringly the heaviest household drudgery. Once she was bitten by a dog that she saw running by in great distress, and to which she offered water. The dog was mad. She said no word to any one, but herself burned the lacerated flesh to the bone with the red hot poker, and no one knew of it until the red scar was accidentally discovered some weeks after, and sympathetic questioning brought out this story. Source: The Record-Union, "Sacramento", December 31, 1899.

Emily Bronté was the most enigmatical of all... Her leanings and affinities were all of a weird character. Unsocial, stubborn in will, destitute of affection for any human being, seemingly unsusceptible of influence or impression from her sisters; yet possessing a wild attachment for her home, a strange sympathy for the brute creation, and an unconquerable love of life... Source: The Ladies' Repository, February, 1861.

If you think that the sources are acceptable/reliable enough, it would be nice to somehow use this information in the main article. Cheers. ~ Daniel Tomé (talk) 22:20, 7 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Although some of these characterisations are observable in other sources, perhaps these here are more interesting in terms of how Emily was perceived in the second half of the 19th century, rather than as definitive observations of fact. They do not strike an appearance of being scholarly studies - for example in the first source are also listed various bits of domestic advice, such as "A housekeeper who has made a study of economical comfort in her home has found after long experience that it is not the fullness of hair mattresses which adds to their comfort, so much as close tufting." PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 23:14, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

"Caught a cold"
Catching a cold and coming down with tuberculosis are now seen as quite different afflictions. Citations would be good to establish whether tuberculosis was diagnosed at the time or inferred much later. Sminthopsis84 (talk) 14:25, 8 February 2013 (UTC)
 * I just added the reference. Thanks. ~ Daniel Tomé (talk) 14:42, 8 February 2013 (UTC)
 * The sources then mention "consumption", but it is the same as tuberculosis. ~ DanielTom (talk) 09:33, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

Another episode (Emily and her dog)
Here is another story about Emily and her dog: Emily was a remarkable creature. As a child and as a woman, she was in person a mere shadow of humanity, — pale, and delicate. But a wild unearthly spirit dwelt within her, and ever and again it flashed forth through her eyes in a fashion that made beholders tremble. When a child she was bitten by a strange dog, and without saying a word she went to the kitchen, took a red-hot Italian iron from the fire, and laid it on the wounded part. Her pet and constant associate was a huge, tawny, ferocious bull-dog, that some eccentric friend had given her. Every one in the house stood in awe of this brute; it persisted in lying at full length on the clean counterpanes of the beds, but no one save its mistress dared teach it better manners, for it was known never to forgive a blow. Emily, however, resolved to flog the monster. She was small, slight, feeble, and a child in years; but with whitened face, and flashing eyes, she seized the dog by the back of the neck and dragged it down stairs; on reaching the hall, she let go her hold, and instantly the furious creature flew at her throat, but promptly, with her little clenched fist, she struck it in the eye and knocked it back; a quick succession of blows followed — every one of them being directed against the one or the other eye. The battery lasted for several minutes, when the animal fell down stupified, blinded, and senseless; and Emily dragged off its huge carcase in triumph, to foment the swollen eyes. The dog loved her, with a dog's lasting, slavish love, ever afterwards lived obedient to her call, and when she died mourned as weakly as a human creature over her grave.
 * Source: John Cordy Jeaffreson, Novels and novelists: from Elizabeth to Victoria (p. 292), published in 1858. ~ Daniel Tomé (talk) 17:07, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

Pronunciation of "Brontë" again
I've found a source for the pronunciation of the surname Brontë, from Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. To quote from the Explanatory Notes:


 * "When our research shows that an author's pronunciation of his or her name differs from common usage, the author's pronunciation is listed first, and the descriptor commonly precedes the more familiar pronunciation."

The book then goes on to list BronTEE as the author's pronunciation, but commonly pronounced by others as BronTAY.

This source is available on Google Books, so anyone can check it online. DORC (talk) 18:11, 5 February 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 14:26, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Charlotte Bronte
When this article talks about Bronte being the third of the four surviving Bronte siblings, it could mention that the eldest of the Bronte siblings was Charlotte. Vorbee (talk) 15:15, 29 July 2018 (UTC)

dagyerrotype?
do you know the meaning of daguerrotype? the image of Constantin Heger is a portrait, oil of canvas, not photo. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.119.228.108 (talk) 17:14, 1 November 2020 (UTC)

Conflicting information regarding Emily's death and their School
There is conflict since one of them states that the father removed them after their death and the other says that he removed them before Elizabeth died "Elizabeth died soon after their return home
 * Emily, Charlotte and Elizabeth were subsequently removed from the school in June 1825. Elizabeth died soon after their return home.
 * Charlotte maintained that...After the deaths of his older daughters, Patrick removed Charlotte and Emily from the school

To fix this issue I have deleted the first mention of Elizabeth dying after they got home since this includes no citation, in contrast with the second statement. If there is an error please reverse and correct me. DO PLEASE HOWEVER NOTIFY ME PREFERABLY. Chefs-kiss (talk) 23:27, 7 August 2021 (UTC)

Kate Bush
Catherine Bush CBE (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer who topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights", 70.171.84.217 (talk) 19:22, 17 February 2023 (UTC)