The image of a mother in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry

Abstract

The aim of the study is to formulate a coherent model of the concept of motherhood in the poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Scientific novelty lies in the fact that, for the first time, the article identifies and substantiates a set of factors that influenced the evolution of this concept. As a result, the article proposes a periodization of the maternal discourse: from early, predominantly religiously sacralized scenarios of loss and didactic “consolation” to later texts in which maternal experience becomes psychologically deepened and politicized. It is shown that the recurrent mechanism of representation is the motif of distancing between mother and child (through death, growing up, and social violence), while maternal love is conceptualized as ambivalent – both protective and restrictive, conferring “power” yet revealing women’s vulnerability. It is established that these changes are driven by a combination of biographical experience (marriage, childbirth, reproductive losses), Victorian gender norms, and socio-political concerns (child labour, slavery, class inequality). The article analyses key texts from the early and late periods as well as the poem “Aurora Leigh”, which makes it possible to compare the religious, social, and personal dimensions of motherhood in the author’s artistic world.

Research materials

1. Browning E. B. Delphi Collection.Complete Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Hastings: Delphi Classics (Kindle Edition), 2013.
2. The Brownings’ Correspondence: In 31 Vols / ed. by R. Hudson, P. Kelley, S. Lewis. Winfield: Wedgestone Press, 1984. Vol. 1.
3. The Brownings’ Correspondence: In 31 Vols / ed. by R. Hudson, P. Kelley, S. Lewis. Winfield: Wedgestone Press, 1985. Vol. 3.
4. The Brownings’ Correspondence: In 31 Vols / ed. by R. Hudson, P. Kelley, S. Lewis. Winfield: Wedgestone Press, 1995. Vol. 13.
5. The Brownings’ Correspondence: In 31 Vols / ed. by R. Hudson, P. Kelley, S. Lewis. Winfield: Wedgestone Press, 2010a. Vol. 17.
6. The Brownings’ Correspondence: In 25 Vols / ed. by R. Hudson, P. Kelley, S. Lewis. Winfield: Wedgestone Press, 2010b. Vol. 18.
7. The Brownings’ Correspondence: In 31 Vols / ed. by R. Hudson, P. Kelley, S. Lewis. Winfield: Wedgestone Press, 2022. Vol. 28.

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Author information

About this article

Publication history

• Received: February 5, 2026.
• Published: March 19, 2026.

Keywords

• Элизабет Барретт Браунинг
• образ матери
• поэма «Аврора Ли»
• викторианская поэзия
• мотив утраты
• Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• mother figure
• poem “Aurora Leigh”
• Victorian poetry
• motif of loss

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© 2026 The Author(s)
© 2026 Gramota Publishing, LLC

User license

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)