In brief
At just 13, Brontë compiled a poetry collection that hints at the author she was destined to become, now available to the public for the first time.
Charlotte Brontë is known for her influential novel “Jane Eyre,” but a new anthology reveals that her writing journey began much earlier. At the youthful age of 13, Brontë collected her poems in a modest anthology titled “Book of Rhymes,” written during the winter of 1829. This collection, created on tiny scraps of paper and stitched together, showcases her early ambition to be an author in a time when few women published their work.This week, to commemorate her 209th birthday, the Brontë Parsonage Museum has published this collection for the first time. It includes ten poems, accompanied by images of the original pages that demonstrate her early struggles and creativity. Among the works is a long poem celebrating nature, an epic-shaped piece, and a quirky homage to the sonnet form titled “A Thing of Fourteen Lines — Commonly Called a [Sonnet?]”.The collection not only presents a glimpse of Brontë's poetic voice but also her writing process, including scribbled edits and changes to her stanzas. “They chart her development as a writer,” commented Ann Dinsdale, the museum’s principal curator. The original manuscripts, lost for over a century, will also be displayed at the museum in Haworth, England, offering fans a chance to connect directly with Brontë's literary beginnings.
