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Love Is More

"'Art is much, but love is more'" (9.656).
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh (1856)

Points for Reflection

Aurora Leigh, Book Nine

  1. what did Romney ask Lady Waldemar to do while he was recovering, following the destruction of Leigh Hall?
  2. does Lady Waldemar’s letter exonerate her (8.1-172), or do we consider her responsible for Marian's fate?
  3. what clues does E.B.B. scatter throughout Books Eight and Nine to prepare the reader for the big reveal concerning Romney’s physical condition?
  4. within just a few lines, Aurora goes from denying her love of Romney (7.173-74) to admitting that she misses, desires and, indeed, loves him passionately (7.196), to denying again that she loves him (7.197-98). What necessary catalyst finally occurs, forcing her to recognize and deal with her feelings?
  5. how was Romney injured?
  6. are Marian’s reflections on a relationship with Romney still shaped by Lady Waldemar’s influence?
  7. why does Marian refuse the offer given her by Romney?
  8. Marian claims that she likely never loved Romney—is she convincing?
  9. what is the final, relational repercussion of Marian’s earlier, drugged rape(s) at the brothel?
  10. is Marian’s assertion that she can live more happily without a husband convincing (9.312-52)?
  11. in what ways does Romney’s disability surprisingly prove to be a blessing?
  12. despite what she asserts (9.607-26 and following), is Aurora Leigh’s love merely a product of intense pity?
  13. why might EBB avoid sharing with us the details of Romney’s loving response to Aurora’s own declaration of love (9.713-759)?
  14. what is the significance of Aurora’s comments about the “ecstasy / Of Darkness” in lines 9.814-33?
  15. which form of improving humanity does the verse-novel ultimately privilege, Aurora’s former, artistic focus on the soul/spirit, or Romney’s focus on material conditions?
  16. in the marriage model forwarded by Elizabeth Barrett Browning in the last few pages of Aurora Leigh, how are typical Victorian conventions challenged?
  17. in Book Five, Aurora Leigh claimed that literary epics like those of Homer are still possible of creation because “all men [are] possible heroes” (5.139-52).  Would it be appropriate to label any of the characters in this verse-novel an epic hero?


painting of an ancient, urban crowd divided by a space that separates the haves and have nots
Poverty and Wealth (1889)
William Powell Frith


Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu