The Brontës

Three sisters, Emily, Charlotte, and Anne, lived an isolated existence during the first half of the 19th century in Haworth, a small Yorkshire village. They produced some of the finest novels and poetry in the English language. The wild and passionate world created by Emily in "Wuthering Heights" and by Charlotte in "Jane Eyre" reflected not only the landscape of the moors but the intense emotions for which their lonely and remote lives provided little other outlet. At an early age, the Bronte girls and their brother Bran well created a fantasy world called Angria, which became an important part of their lives. Their vivid imaginations produced many volumes of Angrian stories, which today account for more than half of the Bronte literature. Phyllis Bentley, a leading authority on the Brontes, has compiled this fascinating primary source portfolio, which chronicles the life of this very extraordinary and talented family, and gives an insight to the Brontes characters through copies of their letters, manuscripts, and diaries. This portfolio includes a Study Guide with reproducible student activities. 6 Illustrated Broadsheet Essays: * Parentage * Childhood * Education * Literary Life * Solitude and Society * Marriage and Death 10 Primary Source Documents: * Pages from the History of the Young Men by Charlotte Bronte * Diary paper written by Emily and Anne Bronte on June 26th, 1837 * Extract from a review of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre in the Quarterly Review, 1847 * A page from the manuscript of Jane Eyre * Letter from Anne Bronte to Ellen Nussey, written a month before she died of tuberculosis * Manuscript poem by Emily Bronte, "Cold in the Earth" * A letter from Charlotte to her publishers, describing the death of Emily * A letter from Charlotte to Ellen Nussey, describing a walk taken with her husband * A picture sheet of the Bronte family * The Brontes on film