A review by lawrence_retold
Aurora Leigh: A Poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

5.0

I first found out about Aurora Leigh in a search for epic poetry by women. Although I'm not ultimately comfortable, now that I've finished it, with calling it an epic, I daresay it's nevertheless a masterful novel in (blank) verse, featuring among its prominent themes the struggle for social equality, feminism, and the empyrean aspirations of the artist. Barrett Browning has here expertly dovetailed the plot mechanics of a novelist with the spirited musings of a poet. Yes, it's at times difficult to understand, but that's not least due to the characters themselves being given to circumlocution and indirection, which is really a key part of the book's mode. She neither gives us what we expect nor shocks in order to be shocking; her twists are both surprising and natural. If this is what Victorian novels are generally like, sign me up for the course!