Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

A product of Victorian England, English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning lived for years as an invalid dominated by her father. However, Sonnets from the Portuguese her most well known work, was written after she escaped her father's control. It is a set of love poems written for the poet Robert Browning-- who first admired her poetry, then became her friend, and finally her husband. After their marriage, they moved to Italy, where her health markedly improved and where their son was born.