“With skilled close readings of her work, Hay convincingly argues that Brontë’s writing on loneliness and society’s expectations for women remain relevant … accessible … a fine place to start for readers new to her work.” Publishers Weekly Anne Brontë is now widely believed to have written the finest of all the Brontë works—and the first ever feminist novel. Why, then, is she less famous than Charlotte and Emily? Discover the real Anne and why she remained for so long in her sisters' shadow. Anne’s writing has often been compared harshly with that of Charlotte and Emily—as if living in her sisters’ shadows throughout her life wasn’t enough. But her reputation, literary and personal, has changed dramatically since Agnes Grey was first published in 1846. Then, shocked reviewers complained of her "crudeness" and "vulgarity"—words used to this day to belittle women writing about oppression. Her second and most famous work, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, was groundbreaking in its subject matter: marital and alcohol abuse and the rights of married women. A book that refused to sweep difficult truths under the rug. A book so ahead of its time that even her sisters weren’t ready for it, Charlotte being one of its harshest critics. And yet today's critics see it as perhaps the best of all the Brontë works. With such a contradictory life and legacy: who was Anne, really? It’s time to find out.

Edward Chitham's biography of Anne Bronte, the often underrated sister of Charlotte and Emily, makes imaginative use of recent research to redefine the personal and artistic relationship between Anne and her sisters, especially Emily. It produces new evidence about Anne's life away from home and re-examines the traumatic period before and after Branwell's 'disgrace'. It modifies the conventionally held view of Agnes Grey and reviews the evidence for Anne's relationship with William Weightman. Now available in paperback, this biography provides an elegant and original life of one of the remarkable Bronte sisters.

A study of Anne Bronte dealing with her life and influences, this text forms part of a series which is designed to help in the reassessment of women's writing in the light of today's understanding.

This book studies the life and writing of Anne Bronte, the youngest child of the celebrated Bronte family. While recognising her family context, Frawley establishes Anne as an innovative and important writer in her own right, covering the full range of Bronte's work, including her poetry. Frawley employs up-to-date feminist theory and theory of autobiography, as well as little-known primary materials such as Bronte's diary.

Agnes Grey Anne Bronte - Agnes Grey is the debut novel of English author Anne Brontë, first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. The novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works within families of the English gentry. Scholarship and comments by Anne's sister Charlotte Brontë suggest the novel is largely based on Anne Brontë's own experiences as a governess for five years. Like her sister Charlotte's novel Jane Eyre, it addresses what the precarious position of governess entailed and how it affected a young woman. The choice of central character allows Anne to deal with issues of oppression and abuse of women and governesses, isolation and ideas of empathy. An additional theme is the fair treatment of animals. Agnes Grey also mimics some of the stylistic approaches of bildungsromans, employing ideas of personal growth and coming to age, but representing a character who in fact does not gain in virtue. The Irish novelist George Moore praised Agnes Grey as "the most perfect prose narrative in English letters,"and went so far as to compare Anne's prose to that of Jane Austen. Modern critics have made more subdued claims admiring Agnes Grey with a less overt praise of Brontë's work than Moore.

This new essay collection brings together some of the top Brontë scholars working today, as well as new critical voices, to examine the many layers of Anne Brontë's fiction and other writings and to restore Brontë to her rightful place in literary history. Until very recently, Brontë's literary fate has been to live in the critical shadow of her older sisters, Charlotte and Emily, in spite of the fact that her two published novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall were widely read and discussed during her lifetime. From a variety of fields-including psychology, religion, social criticism and literary tradition-the contributors to New Approaches to the Literary Art of Anne Brontë re-assess her works as those of an artist, which demand the rigorous scholarship and attention that they receive here.

Whether on the seashore or on the trails between clumps of Haworth heather, let us walk with Anne Brontë and listen to her discussing the kind of truth “that always conveys its own moral to those who are able to receive it.” Join us in our academic and personal celebratory reflections on “gentle” Anne’s “core of steel,” sense of family duty, and enduring courage. Anne was the most underrated and least known of the three Brontë sisters for the better part of a century after she died in May 1849. Walking with Anne Brontë adds gravitas and personality to the growing chorus of academic and other voices honoring the youngest Brontë sibling’s inspirational life and literary legacy.

Whether on the seashore or on the trails between clumps of Haworth heather, let us walk with Anne Brontë and listen to her discussing the kind of truth that “always conveys its own moral to those who are able to receive it.” Please join us in our academic and personal celebratory reflections on “gentle” Anne’s inner “core of steel,” her strong sense of family duty, and her enduring courage. Anne was the most underrated and least understood of the famous Brontë sisters for the better part of a century after she died in May 1849. Walking with Anne Brontë adds gravitas and personality to the growing chorus of academic and other voices now honoring the youngest Brontë sibling’s inspirational life and literary legacy.

Poetry reflecting the early Victorian trends in literature. “Love is like the wild rose-briar;/Friendship like the holly-tree./The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms,/But which will bloom most constantly?”-Love and Friendship A volume of poetry written by the Bronte sisters described by Emily, the middle sister, as “ crude thoughts of the unripe mind”.