Author Archives: Anna Clark

About Anna Clark

I am a graduate student at Baylor University pursuing my MA in history with a focus on eighteenth and nineteenth century transatlantic relations between United States and Europe, especially Great Britain. I earned my BA in history, summa cum laude, from Hillsdale College in May 2022, and I spent 7 weeks studying abroad at the University of Oxford in the summer of 2021, which influenced my interest in transatlantic relations. At Baylor University, I am a graduate research assistant at the Armstrong-Browning Library and Museum where I process print and archival collection materials, prepare materials for digitization, develop and install exhibits, and assist with events. In my free time, I enjoy competitive swimming. I was a Division II swimmer and team captain at Hillsdale College, and swimming has been part of my life for the past 15 years.

Scavenger Hunt Through the ABL! Find the Artifacts Described in Scholar Kevin Morrison’s Book

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by Anna Clark, Master’s Candidate in History and Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Assistant

This article complements the exhibit “Digging in the Archives: Recent Scholarship at the Armstrong Browning Library” on display in the Hankamer Treasure Room, summer and fall 2024. The section on the scholarship of Kevin Morrison–in particular, his book Victorian Liberalism and Material Culture: Synergies of Thought and Place–contains a QR code that redirects to this page. The list of artifacts that Morrison used to describe the connection between Robert Browning’s home decor and his poetry are listed below. All of these items are somewhere on display here at the Armstrong Browning Library. See if you can find all of them!


In his book, scholar Kevin Morrison explores the connection between ideology and material culture. Specifically, Morrison examines the living spaces of four Victorian authors and intellectuals—John Stuart Mill, Matthew Arnold, John Morley, and Robert Browning​—to discover how the environment in which each writer worked influenced their liberal politics. To write the chapter “Robert Browning’s Domestic Gods,” Morrison studied many of the items on display here at the ABL that were once in the Brownings’ home.

List of Artifacts to Find:

  • Velvet Folding Chair

Velvet Folding Chair, originally in the salon of Casa Guidi

This Italian velvet folding chair was one of the antique items that Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning bought to furnish the salon in their house in Florence, Italy, called Casa Guidi. Originally covered in red velvet, the curule-style chair has since been reupholstered in green velvet. The arms and legs of the chair are made of walnut and display many hand-carvings. Elizabeth described these carvings as “all grinning heads & arabesque” (The Brownings’ Correspondence 2005: 103-4, quoted in Morrison, 198).

This folding chair appealed to the Brownings because of both its comfort and its second-hand nature. Morrison explains that at this time, furnishing one’s home with previously owned goods would have been seen as undesirable to many in the English middle class, but for Robert and Elizabeth, the struggling poets they were, saving money on furniture was a wise option as well as in line with their Evangelical views of economy (198-200). Additionally, Robert wanted to invoke the culture of Italy by collecting antiques and art that reflected its aristocratic history (204). This love of Italy and its Renaissance past is seen in many of Robert’s poems.

 

  • Browning Family Grandfather Clock

Browning Family Grandfather Clock

In his book, Morrison describes the significance of this grandfather clock, which belonged to the Browning family and was on display at four of their family residences. For Morrison, the clock tells the story of a family who “emphasized religious principle of self-denial” (186). Even though Robert Browning’s father was well-off, this Bates of Huddersfield bracket clock is more practical than decorative in appearance. It is made of rosewood on a brass-mounted base with little ornamentation. As Morrison explains, “[the clock’s] modest appearance calls attention to time itself–and, by extension, the limited quantity of time, the uncertainty of days and the importance of the present moment” (186). This reminder of one’s own mortality was especially important in an Evangelical household like the Brownings’.

This clock kept time throughout the 20th-century and will still chime if wound. (The ABL staff does not wind the clock for preservation purposes.)

 

  • Elizabeth’s Writing Desk, Letter Tray, and Chairs

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s writing desk, letter tray, and chair

At this writing desk, Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote many of her poems and conducted her correspondence. As an educated Evangelical woman who read and wrote broadly, Elizabeth shared her husband’s liberal views. In particular, she was well-informed on the current political scene in Florence and wrote some poems advocating for Italian independence.

 

  • Prie-Dieu

The Brownings’ prie-dieu, which is the French name for a prayer kneeler

This prie-dieu, or prayer kneeler, was owned by the Brownings when they lived at Casa Guidi in Florence. Pen, their only son, later inherited the prie-dieu and used it in his Venetian home, Palazzo Rezzonico. As Evangelicals, the Brownings dedicated time to prayer both at church and at home.

 

  • Salon at Casa Guidi by George Mignaty (1861)

Mignaty’s Painting of the Salon at Casa Guidi

This is George Mignaty’s 1861 painting Salon at Casa Guidi, which Robert commissioned the artist to paint shortly after Elizabeth’s death. Robert wanted a memento of their sitting room in Florence as it looked when Elizabeth was alive.

Kevin Morrison’s observations about the Brownings’ Evangelical mentality and Robert’s appreciation for Italian art are evident in the painting. Morrison uses Elizabeth’s description of their home as being in “graceful disorder” (Browning Correspondence 1998: 322, quoted in Morrison, 193) as he describes the crowded look of the salon. For the Victorians, the excessive ornamentation of the Brownings’ sitting room and the many pieces of antique furniture and art would have created a sense of home and comfort.

Many of the items on this list can be seen in the painting. In particular, the green Italian folding chair can be seen in the lower lefthand corner of the painting, upholstered in its original red velvet. Additionally, Elizabeth’s fan, which is in the ABL’s possession, is seen laying on the green deck chair in the lower right corner of the painting. The second-hand mahogany bookcase which stands along the left wall originally belonged to a convent and indicates both the Brownings’ love for beautiful things and their Evangelical outlook on economy. In his book, Morrison also delves into the significance of the Italian religious tapestry panels hanging on the back wall of the salon, which represent an intersection of art, history, and religion.

 

  • The Fan in Mignaty’s Painting of the Salon

Elizabeth’s fan which is laying on the chair in the painting of the salon at Casa Guidi

This fan is believed to be Elizabeth’s–in particular, the one laying on the green chair in Mignaty’s painting of the salon at Casa Guidi.

 

  • Copy of The Guardian Angel by Guercino 

The ABL’s copy of the Guardian Angel painting, which was inspiration for Robert Browning’s Poem, “The Guardian Angel”

The Guardian Angel, or L’angelo Custode, was painted in the 17th century by Italian Baroque artist Giovanni Fransceesco Barbieri, who was known as “Guercino.” This particular painting is a copy of the original, which hangs in a small chapel in Fano, Italy, where Robert Browning one day visited with his wife Elizabeth. Robert wrote the poem “The Guardian Angel” based off his perceptual and spiritual engagement with the painting. In the poem, Browning’s narrator expresses a wish that the child’s guardian angel in the painting would also minister to him. The narrator desires a supernatural encounter after admiring Guercino’s painting; in other words, the art inspires a spiritual awakening in the viewer.

As Morrison explains in his book, “works of fine art were viewed with ambivalence by Evangelicals…Many worried about art lacking biblical sanction” (190-91). This particular painting of a child’s guardian angel would have been troublesome for some Evangelicals as the existence of guardian angels had been a long-standing Christian tradition but not one that had explicit biblical exegesis. However, as Morrison explains, Robert Browning appreciated art as it “opened not only the representational world depicted on the canvas but also the historical world of its creation” (191). Browning’s perspective on art influenced how he interacted with Guercino’s The Guardian Angel painting.

Browning’s poem “The Guardian Angel” was the topic of Kevin Morrison’s 2023 Browning Day lecture, in which he explained the poet’s inspiration and pedagogy in writing the poem. The lecture complemented this chapter on “Robert Browning’s Domestic Gods” in Victorian Liberalism and Material Culture.

To learn more about Kevin Morrison’s research and past visits to the Armstrong Browning Library, the following links are provided:

Browning Day 2023, “Translated into Song: Robert Browning and a Picture at Fano” | Armstrong Browning Library & Museum (baylor.edu)

Reflections from a Visiting Scholar: Archival Expectations and Unexpected Surprises | Armstrong Browning Library & Museum (baylor.edu)

Also be sure to check out the work that other researchers and scholars have conducted at the ABL using our materials in the exhibit “Digging in the Archives: Recent Scholarship at the Armstrong Browning Library.” In particular, if you are interested in Sue Brown’s research on Julia Wedgwood, consider stopping by our Dotson Wedgwood china and pottery display downstairs on the first floor.*

*(The Dotson Wedgwood Collection here at the ABL was donated by Sue Anthony Dotson and her husband William Dotson and remains one of the largest collections of Wedgwood pottery pieces in the United States. Robert Browning and Julia Wedgwood, the great-granddaughter of Josiah Wedgwood who founded the Wedgwood pottery company in 1759, were correspondents.)

Browning Day 2024, “How Much Bacon is in this Vegan Sandwich?: The Role of Invention in Historical Fiction”

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by Anna Clark, Master’s Candidate in History and Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Assistant

On this year’s Browning Day, novelist Laura McNeal gave a lecture entitled, “How Much Bacon is in this Vegan Sandwich?: The Role of Invention in Historical Fiction,” describing her experience in writing The Swan’s Nest, a historical fiction novel detailing Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett’s courtship between 1844-1846. McNeal’s lecture was followed by a book-signing and reception downstairs in the Cox Reception Hall.

This year’s Browning Day celebration was held on Friday April 12th in the Hankamer Treasure Room and featured novelist Laura McNeal who gave a lecture on her most recent novel, The Swan’s Nest. In her opening remarks, Library Director Jennifer Borderud introduced the Armstrong Browning Library’s newest curator, Joanna Lamb, and welcomed the Baylor University Libraries Board of Advisors. Borderud acknowledged the culmination of an exciting week for the university and the city of Waco. Thousands of visitors flooded into Waco to observe the total solar eclipse on Monday April 8th, and the natural phenomenon did not disappoint despite cloudy skies prior to totality. Two of these visitors were Laura McNeal, this year’s featured Browning Day speaker, and her husband Tom McNeal.

Laura McNeal, 2024 Browning Day Lecturer

Laura McNeal is the author of Dark Water, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and a two-time historical fiction novelist as well as the co-author of four other critically acclaimed novels written with her husband Tom McNeal. She received her M.A. in fiction writing from Syracuse University and has been the recipient of two Armstrong Browning Library visiting research fellowships. These research visits to the ABL assisted McNeal in writing her latest novel, The Swan’s Nest, which explores the love story of two famous 19th-century poets, so near and dear to our library: Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The Swan’s Nest, which was just released this March, covers the beginning of the Brownings’ courtship in 1844 leading up to their wedding in 1846 and their subsequent flight to Italy. In future works, McNeal intends to explore more of the Brownings’ 19th-century world as The Swan’s Nest is the first book in a planned trilogy.

How Much Bacon is in This Vegan Sandwich?

In her lecture “How Much Bacon is in this Vegan Sandwich?: The Role of Invention in Historical Fiction,” McNeal discussed the process of writing The Swan’s Nest and what she means when she says her novel is true to life. At first glance, McNeal observed, the descriptor “historical fiction” appears to be an oxymoron in the same way “bacon” and “vegan” are antithetical. How can a book be historical yet fictional? How can a vegan sandwich have bacon?

As McNeal explained in her lecture, the role of invention in historical fiction does not take away from the historical reality of what happened. Instead, historical fiction is a medium through which to welcome a new audience into the story of the past. Sometimes for the past to make sense or to understand how people in the past felt or perceived the events happening in their lives, a certain amount of artistic license is required. This is the role of invention in historical fiction: to interpret people or events in the past in order to fill gaps in their stories. In The Swan’s Nest, McNeal had to, metaphorically, put bacon in her vegan sandwich.

“That is the origin of my strange title. The book is historical but fiction. It’s non-fat, yet it has fat in it. It’s non-fictional fiction.”

A portrait of Sarianna Browning, the poet’s sister, hangs in the John Leddy-Jones Research Hall. McNeal lamented that this is one of the few depictions we have of Sarianna Browning. In her novel, McNeal brings Sarianna to life and gives her a voice and personality beyond this rather solemn face.

McNeal described the strange dichotomy of her craft in which she portrays many “fictional but historically possible” events and conversations between her characters. In The Swan’s Nest, she imagines not only Robert and Elizabeth’s courtship but also the reactions of their respective family members and friends to their relationship and eventual elopement. One of these characters was Robert’s younger sister Sarianna Browning; what we know of this intelligent and loyal woman is largely limited to her correspondence, notebooks, and sketches.

To bring Sarianna to life, McNeal had to create many of these “fictional but historically possible” scenarios. In the novel, she relies on a fictional yet historically possible conversation between Sarianna and Charles Dickens at a fictional but historically possible dinner party. In this dinner party scene, McNeal’s Sarianna frets about her outfit, comparing it to those of the other wealthier women in attendance, and displays nervousness in speaking to her literary idol, Dickens. To write these details about Sarianna’s character, McNeal used her own personal experiences. She saw something of herself in Sarianna and in the process, made Sarianna more relatable to modern audiences. Through McNeal’s storytelling, this often-forgotten sister of Robert Browning is able to step outside the poet’s shadow and tell her story–the story of a devoted sister who expressed understandable concerns about how her brother’s secret marriage to Elizabeth Barrett would impact his reputation and their family’s future financial security. Sarianna is not the only character that McNeal brings out of the wings into the limelight; Elizabeth’s sisters and brothers are also portrayed realistically and sympathetically in McNeal’s narrative. It is through many of these invented scenes and conversations in the novel that McNeal emphasizes the humanity of her characters.

The Historical Fiction Novel as a Séance

“A historical novelist is a medium,” McNeal told her audience. She described why chooses to explore the people past through historical fiction writing as it brings their voices to life in a way that biographies frequently fail to fully capture. Oftentimes as it is the case with historians and biographers of 19th-century figures, they are largely limited to what was written down and preserved in the archives. These records may not tell us everything we want to know about these people of the past. In her research for the novel, McNeal studied everything she could get her hands on, but she was not restricted by these historical sources. Instead, she used them to inform and expand upon the historical figures she chose to portray in her book. For example, McNeal used both Henrietta Barrett and Sarianna Browning’s sketchbooks to visualize her characters and their personalities. These sketchbooks, which are in the ABL’s possession, demonstrate these two women’s sense of humor and eye for beauty in the world around them.

“A medium claims to make you hear the voices of people you can’t see, to make things happen in your presence, and to connect you to the dead, to bring them back, and I think novels are the best séance there is.”

Like spiritual mediums who preside over séances, historical fiction authors encounter a lot of skepticism about the nature of their craft. The process of bringing the dead back to life is not easy; many will doubt and challenge whether novelists truly heard the voices of the past and interpreted them correctly–in other words, whether their stories are true to life.

McNeal is not alone in juggling this precarious balance between invention and truth in her writing. One of McNeal’s characters, Elizabeth Barrett herself, too employed invention when she wrote about Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden of Eden in “A Drama of Exile.” McNeal described how Elizabeth wrote a defense of her depiction of twilight in Eden since she was worried that literary critics and religious leaders would condemn her for making twilight “too long” in the Biblical story and therefore, historically inaccurate.

Dr. A.J. Armstrong commissioned these stained-glass windows in the Foyer of Meditation to look like dawn or dusk, the hours of the day that he believed the most artistic inspiration occurred. These purple-gold windows also evoke Elizabeth’s long purple twilight in “A Drama of Exile.”

As McNeal argued throughout her lecture, complete historical accuracy is not a standard we should hold historical fiction to; that kind of literary analysis should be reserved for biographies and history books. What she and other historical fiction writers do is take the past and make it into a cohesive narrative by imagining what it would have been like for that person to live in that time or place, using the historical record to guide their literary portrayal. McNeal explained further that all of us interpret and formulate images in our minds about the past in unique ways, and these ideas may not correlate with how others have imagined past people or events. That is perfectly okay because creativity and personal interpretation are part of the genre.

The ABL as a Place Where “the Past Doesn’t Die”

McNeal compared the way historical fiction novelists connect us to the dead to the way museums and libraries do. In her presentation, she stressed the importance of stories behind the objects we have on display, whether they are in a public museum exhibit and or on the shelf in our homes. By holding on to these relics of the past and passing the stories associated with them to the next generation, we are keeping the tenuous link to the dead alive. McNeal described the ABL as a place where “the past doesn’t die,” thanks to the Library’s continued effort to preserve and expand our collections.

In particular, McNeal referenced a letter by J.A.L. Sterling, which is part of a recent collection donated to the ABL by the family of Elaine Baly (Vivienne Browning), a descendant of Robert Browning’s uncle Reuben Browning. In this letter, Sterling lamented the demolition of Robert Browning’s home at 19 Warwick Crescent, located in the Paddington neighborhood of London. Before the home was torn down, Sterling snuck in and took photographs, which he enclosed in the letter to Elaine Baly. He also salvaged the door to Robert Browning’s study. Sterling made this door into a desk upon which he wrote his book manuscript on world copyright law, hoping that some of Browning’s genius would seep from the door into his pen.

For her lecture, McNeal examined J.A.L. Sterling’s letter to Elaine Baly (Vivienne Browning) describing his efforts to save 19 Warwick Crescent from demolition in the 1950s along with his pictures of the house before it was destroyed. The photographs and letter are now part of the Elaine Baly (Vivienne Browning) Collection gifted to the ABL by her son John Baly in November 2023.

We know what the interior of Robert Browning’s home at 19 Warwick Crescent looked like thanks to Sterling’s photographs and descriptions. We have these photographs because Elaine Baly kept the letter, and her son John chose to donate her Browning paraphernalia to the ABL instead of discarding the items. This fragile link to the past has been preserved thanks to the individual actions of many different players who saw the value in remembering Robert Browning’s life at Warwick Crescent.

Continuing this theme of doors associated with the Brownings, McNeal also discussed a visit to Wellesley College in which she touched the door that once stood guard at the Barrett residence on Wimpole Street–the very same door whose slot Robert’s letters to Elizabeth would have been slipped through and the very same door that Robert himself would have knocked in order to gain entry into the Barrett home on May 16, 1844, to meet his future wife for the first time.

McNeal acknowledged the tangible history that the Wimpole Street door represented along with the lovely letters and poems that both Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning wrote to one another. However, as much as McNeal appreciates the preservation of these historical objects associated with the Brownings, she explained that she is much more interested in the lives of these poets, in which the door served as a symbol, the opening of a legendary love story.

“It is the life that followed the letters…it’s the story, knowing the story, telling the story, and most of all, believing the story that gives the object value.”

A diorama on display in the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Salon depicting the first meeting between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett in her bedroom at No. 50 Wimpole Street. This diorama, McNeal stated in her lecture, is one of her favorite items on display in the ABL.

As in the cases of J.A.L. Sterling’s door-turned-desk and the Wimpole Street door at Wellesley, the stories behind non-fictional objects make them valuable. McNeal observed that the ABL’s Hankamer Treasure Room would not be a treasure room unless there were treasures contained within–for what is a museum without treasures?  But what makes these items treasures? A lock of hair belonging to Robert Browning has value because we know who Robert Browning was; we know the story of his extraordinary life, and we continue to tell the story of his life. What particularly stands out for McNeal in the story of Robert Browning’s life is his steadfast love for Elizabeth Barrett and hers for him.

“At the core of the Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett’s myth is the Greek myth about Cupid and Psyche. Love makes the soul immortal.”

The love shared between our two eponymous poets is what draws thousands of visitors to our Library every year. The Brownings’ love for one another is what gives greater beauty and depth to their poetry, and this enduring love story is reflected throughout the ABL. One only has to read Elizabeth’s famous Sonnet 43 inscribed on the wall in the Cloister of the Clasped Hands and admire the stained-glass windows in the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Salon to see the continuing appeal of the Brownings’ love story. We all dream of a love like theirs, which almost seems mythical–too good to be true.

The Enduring Myth of the Brownings’ Love

One of the stained-glass windows in the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Salon represents the lines of the first sonnet from the “Sonnets from the Portuguese”: “The silver answer rang…Not Death but Love.” The sonnets, although published later, were written by Elizabeth during the Brownings’ courtship, and this first sonnet foreshadows that the coming change in her life is to be Robert’s love, not death as she originally feared.

An audience member asked McNeal how the Brownings’ idea of love shaped her idea of love. Throughout her lecture, McNeal expressed her hope that her novel will leave readers wanting to learn more about the Brownings, to seek out their history, and to visit the libraries and museums which house the treasures of their lives. As for her characters’ influence on her, McNeal shared that her own dive into Brownings’ love story made her want to be a better person, and their faithfulness to one another through life’s trials was inspirational.

Robert and Elizabeth’s love story is one that endures, largely in part due to their prolific poetry and letters, but also because of people like McNeal who take up their pen and tell the Brownings’ story again.

“The whole point of a myth is to see ourselves in it and be able to interpret our experiences through it and tell it again…”

McNeal closed her lecture with a reading from her novel, The Swan’s Nest, and afterwards, answered other audience questions and signed books in the Cox Reception Hall. We encourage you to check out McNeal’s retelling of the famous love story of the Brownings in her book, The Swan’s Nest, and to keep an eye out for the next installations in the trilogy.

If you are interested in watching a video recording of McNeal’s lecture, the following link is provided: 2024 Armstrong Browning Library & Museum Browning Day featuring novelist Laura McNeal (youtube.com)

It’s Okay to Talk to Strangers: 2023 Benefactors Day Lecture by Dr. Kristen Pond

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by Anna Clark, Master’s Student in History and Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

Every fall semester, the Armstrong Browning Library hosts a guest lecturer to celebrate Benefactors Day. The annual event, held this year on October 20th in the Hankamer Treasure Room, recognizes our benefactors who support the Armstrong Browning Library in its mission to educate and share with visitors the lives and works of the Brownings and their Victorian contemporaries. We would like to extend our gratitude to the Guardian Angel Fund who made this year’s celebration possible.

On this Benefactors Day, Library Director Jennifer Borderud highlighted the generosity of the Brown Foundation, which sponsors the Armstrong Browning Library’s Margarett Root Brown Chair in Robert Browning and Victorian Studies at Baylor University. Established in 1970, the Brown Foundation funds the current scholar-in-residence’s research and public scholarship.

This year’s lecturer was Dr. Kristen Pond, our newly selected Margarett Root Brown Chair, who gave a presentation titled “It’s Okay to Talk to Strangers: Charles Dickens and Charlotte Brontë on Enchanting Encounters.” Her lecture was her inaugural address after being named the seventh Browning Chair this fall, and Dr. Pond will continue to collaborate with the ABL in the years to come as our in-house scholar on all things Browning and Victorian.

In her talk, Dr. Pond explored the ways we experience both wonder and enchantment in our lives and how encounters with strangers are often linked to these feelings of wonder and enchantment. Her address draws from her research on the importance of space and the figure of the stranger in Victorian literature.

Dr. Kristen Pond, the new Margarett Root Brown Chair of Robert Browning and Victorian Studies at Baylor University

In addition to serving as our new Margarett Root Brown Chair, Dr. Pond is also an Associate Professor in the Baylor English Department, the Interim First-Year Writing Director, and an Affiliate Faculty Member of the Women’s and Gender Studies Department. She teaches courses on 18th and 19th century British literature, and her research largely focuses on the 19th century novel, its development, and the rhetoric and ethics of sympathy. Her new book, Strangers and the Enchantment of Space in Victorian Fiction, 1830-1865, was just released this October and delves further into the themes she discussed in her Benefactors Day lecture.

Wonder and Enchantment

Dr. Pond opened her lecture with a question to the audience, asking them to think about the last time they were filled with wonder. As attendees reflected on this question, Pond showed pictures of her hikes in the mountains of North Carolina and special moments spent with her children. The sense of wonder, Pond suggested, not only comes from a feeling of awe but also some sort of disruption, something outside the ordinary events of daily life. She posited the idea that to wonder at something is to not have an immediate answer or explanation for the thing you are wondering about and to be surprised or astonished by it.

Pond then explained that Victorian authors often thought and wrote about this feeling of wonder in their works, but they often used the word “enchantment” instead. As Pond described, to be enchanted by something is to be charmed, delighted, enraptured, or even spellbound by it. Pond suggested that we often use the word “wonder” in modern language because we all have access to wonder, whereas the word “enchantment” has a magical and mysterious connotation to it. To clarify further the differences between the two words, Pond explained that wonder is often depicted as a good emotion, but enchantment can be either good or bad. Later in her lecture, Pond explored the negative side of enchantment through the character of Jane Eyre.

Personally, I am filled with a sense of wonder whenever I look down at the Foyer of Meditation from the 3rd floor balcony.

Victorians and Strangers

Pond described how Victorians lived in an age of incredible scientific discovery and technological advancement, and new modes of transport, such as the train, offered more opportunities to explore the world beyond their familiar scenes of close friends and neighbors. Their growing mobility as a culture meant more encounters with strangers.

Strangers, in particular, evoked both fear and delight in the hearts of Victorians. This double-edged emotion of fear and delight, as Pond explicated, is part of this feeling of enchantment. For the Victorian traveler, the figure of the unknown stranger offered endless possibilities beyond their own realm of experience and knowledge. Handbooks on proper railway etiquette and how to interact with other passengers were popular among Victorians.

This Victorian fascination with strangers is also seen in their fiction, as authors often examined this tension between the ordinary and the extraordinary. Pond explained that this tension is a space for wonder and enchantment. The railway as a space appealed to the romanticized idea of the journey and encountering others on their own personal journeys. Charles Dickens, in particular, was fascinated by the possibility of an encounter with an unknown stranger and explored this enchantment in both his personal life and literature.

Image of a Victorian-era train taken from the UK National Archives

Charles Dickens and the Railway as a Space of Enchantment in Mugby Junction

In June 1865, Charles Dickens rode the South Eastern Railway Folkestone to London boat train, and the train derailed while crossing a viaduct, plunging from the bridge into the riverbed below. The crash resulted in the deaths of ten passengers and the injuries of another forty. Dickens and his companions were unharmed, but the traumatic experience had a profound effect on Dickens. Some of the passengers died while he tended to them, and he had to crawl back into the carcass of the train to retrieve his papers for the last installment of Our Mutual Friend. For the rest of his life, Dickens was extremely wary of railway travel and sought alternative means of transportation whenever feasible.

Engraving of the 1865 Staplehurst Rail Crash from the Illustrated London News

Despite his fear of trains, Dickens was fascinated by the railway and wrote Mugby Junction, a collection of short stories all centered around the railway as a space of enchanting encounters. In her lecture, Pond focused on two of these stories, “Barbox Brothers” and “Barbox Brothers & Co.” The character of Jackson in these two stories undergoes transformative experiences at the Mugby Junction station because of his encounters with strangers.

In “Barbox Brothers,” Jackson is first described as a solitary and unhappy man, but his encounter with Phoebe opens his eyes to the magic of the railway and the enchanting possibilities it offers. Phoebe is a sick and bedridden young woman, but unlike her body, her mind is active. As she listens to the constant activity at the station from her window, she envisions exciting journeys to exotic places and lands that she has only encountered in her imagination. The junction as a space connects Phoebe to things and places she will never see. Thanks to Phoebe, Jackson learns to appreciate the railway as a space of enchantment and begins to take an interest in the people around him. He starts to see the world through Phoebe’s eyes and to view the railway as an imagined community, connected through shared journeys. He promises to observe the people at the seven railway lines that intersect at the junction and to visit Phoebe again, so he can describe them to her and make her imagined stories a reality.

Dickens’ second installment in the Mugby Junction series, “Barbox Brothers & Co,” again follows Jackson as he meets another enchanting and imaginative girl. Polly, whom Jackson encounters in a town at the end of the seventh railway line, asks him to tell her a story. At first, Jackson tells her that he does not have any stories to tell her, and she admonishes him. Then Polly spins a tale about a fairy, and Jackson’s imagination is opened to other perspectives of the world. He gets over his initial awkwardness with the little girl and continues her story about the fairy. In doing so, Jackson begins to deviate from his self-centeredness and to consider other people’s happiness. Polly turns out to be the daughter of the woman he once loved, and his kindness towards Polly changes her mother’s view of him. In the end, Jackson settles down in Mugby Junction and spends the rest of his days doting both on Phoebe and Polly.

Ultimately, Dickens’ two stories, Pond argued, are about human relationships. Through the characters of Jackson, Phoebe, and Polly, Dickens portrays the railway as a space of enchantment, where encounters with strangers could expand the imagination and foster meaningful connections with others. Jackson is utterly transformed by his encounters with Phoebe and Polly into a much happier and personable man.

In her lecture, Pond recognized the ABL’s possession of the Every Saturday journal in our collections, this copy having installments of Dickens’ Mugby Junction.

Charlotte Brontë and Becoming a Stranger in Jane Eyre

Pond then shifted her attention to another famous Victorian author: Charlotte Brontë. In her novel, Jane Eyre, Brontë shows us that it’s okay to be a stranger too. In addition to the importance of talking to strangers, Pond stressed the reality that we may sometimes be the stranger ourselves. Brontë’s titular character Jane chooses to become a stranger again and again throughout the novel.

Pond asked the audience to reimagine the novel as a journey that follows Jane from Gateshead Hall, the family home of her unkind aunt and cousins, the Reeds; Lowood School, where she receives an education and loses her only friend Helen Burns; Thornfield Hall, where she becomes a governess for Adele and falls in love with Mr. Rochester; Moor House, a place of refuge after her flight from Thornfield upon learning the existence of Bertha Mason Rochester and the home of St. John Rivers and his two sisters; and finally to Ferndean Manor, the secluded house where Jane seeks out Mr. Rochester to rekindle their relationship after Bertha burns down Thornfield. Every time Jane leaves one of these places, she becomes a stranger again, but she does so to preserve something inside her that is fundamental to who she is as a person.

The first time Jane becomes a stranger, taken from one of the ABL’s editions of Jane Eyre which features Monro S. Orr’s illustrations

Pond argued that Jane continually adopts the identity of a stranger to protect herself, and she used the example of Jane’s surprise at Mr. Rochester’s calling her “Jane Rochester” when they are first engaged to demonstrate the self-protective nature of the novel’s protagonist. Jane expresses reluctance to giving up her name, and Brontë describes her heroine having both a nervous fear and a sense of wonder at the prospect of becoming Mr. Rochester’s wife. Pond explained Jane’s conflicting feelings in this moment as a sort of a negative enchantment; Jane is delighted at Mr. Rochester’s proposal of marriage because she loves him, but she is fearful of becoming a stranger to herself. She instead becomes a stranger to him by leaving Thornfield and casting herself at the mercy of strangers, particularly the Rivers family. Jane refuses to become Mr. Rochester’s mistress or to falsely present herself as his wife.

Despite Jane adopting the identity of a stranger in her flight from Thornfield Hall, Jane keeps true to who she is and only trusts us, the readers, with this hidden secret of her true identity. Pond referenced the famous line, “Reader, I married him,” to demonstrate that Jane does not want to be a stranger to herself or us. She continually breaks the fourth wall throughout the story and addresses the reader affectionately as if we were a close friend or confidant. She reveals her feelings to us as both Mr. Rochester and St. John Rivers try to fit her into plans that do not align with her understanding of who she is or her vision for her life.

The only time in the novel that Brontë distances us from Jane is when Jane asks the innkeeper about the recent events at Thornfield Hall after she returns to find it a desolated ruin. Jane does not reveal her identity to the innkeeper as he weaves his tale of Mr. Rochester being bewitched by a governess, not knowing the woman in question is Jane. He tells Jane that the governess had entrapped Mr. Rochester with her charms and that would have been better for Mr. Rochester if that woman had been sunk in the sea before she ever came to Thornfield Hall. Through this harsh appraisal of Jane’s character and intentions, the audience feels a gulf between us and who we know Jane to be.

Jane and Mr. Rochester in the forest near Ferndean, another of Monro S. Orr’s illustrations

Brontë’s use of space is particularly important in the scene in which Jane searches for Mr. Rochester’s remote manor home, Ferndean. She describes Jane feeling lost in the forest and struggling to find the entrance to the secluded house. The physical deterioration of the house itself invokes the 19th century literary device of connecting the inner spiritual state of the landowner to the outer physical state of his home. The fact that Mr. Rochester is at Ferndean, in the first place, forces us to confront the uncomfortable reality that his wife Bertha burned down Thornfield Hall, partly out of anger at him for conspiring to marry another woman. Pond explained that Brontë’s employment of space in this chapter reminds us to consider other perspectives.

For Pond, one of the biggest lessons from Jane Eyre is the importance of being challenged on our views of the world, especially of other people. When the innkeeper recounts his version of the events that occurred at Thornfield Hall, we are forced as an audience to consider other perspectives of Jane’s narrative. The local community has reached a verdict on who they think Jane Eyre is, and Jane presents a version that differs from the villagers’ perception of her throughout the rest of the story. However, Jane’s choosing to become a stranger again and again requires the audience to reconsider what we know of Jane’s identity as she continually seeks change. She does not allow us to remain familiar with who she is, but rather, she constantly reveals new facets of her identity. By slowly revealing the hidden depths and the strength of her character, Jane enchants us, the readers.

It’s Okay to Talk to Strangers

To conclude her lecture, Pond encouraged the audience to take inspiration from Dickens and Brontë and seek these enchanting encounters with strangers. Like the Victorians, we may be fearful of an encounter with a person we do not know, but there are infinite possibilities in every stranger one encounters. In these spaces of disruption from our ordinary behavior and actions, we have an opportunity to encounter the extraordinary. We may be opened to a new perspective, a new way of looking at the world, that we otherwise may have never possessed if we did not garner up the courage to say hello. As Dr. Pond reminds us, it’s okay to talk to strangers, and it may even be wonderful.

Browning Day 2023, “Translated into Song: Robert Browning and a Picture at Fano”

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by Anna Clark, Master’s Student in History and Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

Every spring, the Armstrong Browning Library hosts a guest lecturer for its annual Browning Day which commemorates the legacy of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. This year’s lecture was given by Dr. Kevin A. Morrison in the Hankamer Treasure Room on April 27th.

This year’s Browning Day lecture, “Translated into Song: Robert Browning and A Picture at Fano,” explored the connections between sensory and perceptual experience of material culture and the written word. Dr. Kevin Morrison’s presentation was based on Robert Browning’s 1855 poem, “The Guardian Angel: A Picture at Fano.” This poem was the first that Robert Browning wrote after his marriage to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and their relocation to Italy. The poem’s inspiration came to Browning after traveling to the small town of Fano, Italy, located on the Adriatic coast. While he was in Fano with Elizabeth, they entered a chapel where a painting entitled L’angelo Custode (The Guardian Angel) by the Italian Baroque painter Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (known as Guercino) was on display.

We were at Fano, and three times we went
To sit and see him in his chapel there,
And drink his beauty to our soul’s content
—My angel with me too: and since I care
For dear Guercino’s fame (to which in power
And glory comes this picture for a dower,
Fraught with a pathos so magnificent)—

And since he did not work thus earnestly
At all times, and has else endured some wrong—
I took one thought his picture struck from me,
And spread it out, translating it to song.

-Excerpt from Robert Browning’s “The Guardian Angel: A Picture at Fano”

Kevin A. Morrison, Professor of British Literature at Henan University and ABL Visiting Scholar

Morrison is a Professor of British Literature at Henan University in Kaifeng, China, and a Visiting Scholar of the Armstrong Browning Library. His latest book, Victorian Liberalism and Material Culture: Synergies of Thought and Place, was published by the Edinburgh University Press in 2018 and won the 2020 MLA Prize for Independent Scholars. Morrison’s book explores the links between Victorian material culture and liberal political theory through the study of four Victorian writers, including Robert Browning. Morrison is also a founder and the current president of the Society for Global Nineteenth-Century Studies as well as the editor of the society’s journal. His newest book, The Provincial Fiction of Mitford, Gaskell, and Eliot, is set to release this fall. 

In his lecture, Morrison explained how this poem, one of Browning’s least studied, marked a shift in the poet’s literary approach. Morrison detailed the history of the poem, the significance it held to Browning, and how Browning refined his sensory alertness to and perceptual engagement with historical materiality. The poem is largely a story of the relationship between person and object: a story of Browning and his relationship with a painting he viewed in a small church in Fano, Italy. For Browning, this particular painting struck a chord with him, and he was encouraged by Elizabeth to translate his visual and emotive experience into “song.” What Browning is doing in “The Guardian Angel” poem is translating his idea—his experience—of the painting into a poetic and auditory medium.

Morrison described how for the poet, the painting spoke to his soul before it generated any thought. In the poem, Browning attempts to convey to the reader this spiritual encounter with the painting that occurred apart from rational contemplation of it. Morrison further explained how the poem does not simply give a description of the painting; if the poem were just reduced to an artistic description of what it is physically depicted on the canvas, then it would still remain Guercino’s artistic expression. What is innovative here is Browning’s own personal engagement with the painting. In the poem, Browning captures his deep desire to re-engage in a religious appreciation of beauty through his experience of sitting in front of the painting and his prayerful contemplation of it. In this way, Browning’s pedagogical activity is different than his peers and even his earlier works of poetry.

Dear and great Angel, wouldst thou only leave
That child, when thou hast done with him, for me!
Let me sit all the day here, that when eve
Shall find performed thy special ministry,
And time come for departure, thou, suspending
Thy flight, mayst see another child for tending,
Another still, to quiet and retrieve.

-Excerpt from Robert Browning’s “The Guardian Angel: A Picture at Fano”

The ABL’s copy of the Guardian Angel painting hanging in the Leddy-Jones Research Hall. Guercino’s painting depicts a child perched on a tomb whose hands are clasped by those of his or her guardian angel. The pair appear to be in prayer, looking up to the heavens where three cherubs peer down.

In the audience, members of a Baylor Lifelong Learning Class held at the ABL were present as well as Baylor faculty and students and members of the general public. The lecture was the culmination of three weeks of study for members of the Lifelong Learning Class who met at the ABL weekly to discuss and study the works and lives of the Brownings using library materials.

In her opening remarks, library director Jennifer Borderud highlighted the Guardian Angels, a group of library patrons who help support the ABL’s ability to provide free public admission, expand its material collections, and make possible events such as the annual Browning Day lecture. If you are interested in donating a gift to the Guardian Angel Fund to support the ongoing development of our unique collection of materials dedicated to the Brownings and their Victorian contemporaries as well as the hosting of Browning Day and other public programs, the Armstrong Browning Library thanks you for your generosity.

Additionally, if you are interested in experiencing the moving pathos of Guercino’s The Guardian Angel painting yourself, we encourage you to travel to Fano, Italy, and to send a postcard to the ABL. Once we receive the news that you have visited the painting in Fano, you will become a lifelong member of the exclusive Fano Club, which meets at the library every year around Robert Browning’s birthday (May 7th).

The Armstrong Browning Library would like to express its sincerest gratitude to Dr. Kevin A. Morrison for this year’s lecture and his ongoing collaboration with us to promote the study of the works and lives of poets Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. To learn more about Dr. Morrison’s previous visits to the library and his archival research at the ABL, the following link is provided: Reflections from a Visiting Scholar: Archival Expectations and Unexpected Surprises | Armstrong Browning Library & Museum (baylor.edu)

 

Reflections from a Graduate Student Fall 2022: Earth Crammed with Heaven

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by Anna Clark, Master’s Student in History and Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

When I began working as a graduate assistant at the Armstrong Browning Library last August, I had recently moved to Texas from Michigan and just started my first semester of graduate school in the Baylor History M.A. program. I was excited to begin my assistantship at the library since my area of study is nineteenth century transatlantic relations between the United States and Great Britain.

When I first stepped into the cool library out of the blazing Texas heat, I felt like I was whisked back to England. As an undergraduate student, I studied abroad for a summer at the University of Oxford and had spent countless hours in the Bodleian Library. The Armstrong Browning Library with its stained glass windows, quiet study rooms, soaring ceilings, marble columns, shelves of old books, and cases of artifacts belongs in Europe. Dr. Armstrong and the generous benefactors who first envisioned the library and those who continue to give have truly made this a sanctuary for those who love the Brownings, their poetry, and beauty in both the written word and the spaces in which it is shared.

A stained glass window in the room I work. Most of the rooms in the library, including the offices and workrooms, have colorful glass windows with inscriptions from the Brownings’ poems.

The office room I have been assigned to work in as a graduate assistant has its own stained glass windows with excerpts from Robert Browning’s poems and houses bookcases filled with rare 19th century books. The third floor hallway where most of the library staff work overlooks the Foyer of Meditation, and I often stop by the balcony to peek down on that marble room with its twilight stained glass windows. On the days the choir practices in the foyer, their music resounds through the building. It is truly a lovely place to work, and I can see how Dr. Armstrong’s vision to inspire another talent at Baylor to the renown of the Brownings may easily come true in such a place.

The soaring ceiling of the Foyer of Meditation stands at forty feet high, and the gold leaf of the dome was pressed by hand, the texture coming from the finger prints of the people who worked hard to bring Dr. Armstrong’s dream to fruition.

Stop by our third floor balcony and listen to the choir if you happen to visit on a day they are practicing. The acoustics in the library make it a favorite site for concerts.

The tasks I have been assigned by our curator, Laura French, this last semester have been very rewarding. Some of the projects I took on included writing articles and interviewing Katrina Gallegos, the curator of our current exhibit Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in “Fifine at the Fair,” for the library blog; taking inventory of artwork in one of the ABL’s storage rooms; reading through book catalogues to suggest new items that the library may interested in acquiring; helping Laura, our curator, organize and set up books for English classes that have sessions at the library; researching old newspaper archives to find information for a researcher who had a query about President Truman’s visit to Baylor University in 1947; and curating an exhibit on Harriet Martineau, one of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s correspondents and a successful writer in her own right, to complement Dr. Deborah A. Logan’s address here at the library on Benefactor’s Day.

All of these projects have been immensely interesting and have appealed to my love of history. Through my assigned research and work at the library, I have personally handled first editions and letters of Robert and Elizabeth Browning and many of their contemporaries such as Lord Tennyson, Dante and Christina Rossetti, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Thomas Carlyle, and Harriet Martineau to name a few. Some of these artifacts are nearly two-hundred years old, and it often surprises me to think of their age and all the famous people who touched them; they are concrete links to the past, and I think it is wonderful thing that students, professors, and staff at Baylor University have the opportunity to study and examine such historical things.

“Earth’s crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God,

But only he who sees takes off his shoes…”

– Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh

I am not encouraging visitors to the ABL take off their shoes, but I think there is something to be said for taking the time to slow down and to appreciate beauty in the simple things. I think that is what Dr. Armstrong envisioned for this grand library. Take the time from the busyness of daily life to study the stained glass windows in the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Salon, stand in the Cloister of the Clasped Hands, look up at the lofty gold leaf ceiling, reflect on the beautiful love Robert and Elizabeth shared for one another, sit in the shaded garden outside, discover the magic of the Brownings’ poetry, appreciate the work and the vision that the people of Baylor had to bring this space to life, and take some of this beauty out into the world with you when you leave. Most of us will not become the great poet of talent that Dr. Armstrong envisioned being inspired by this place, but we can all be inspired and inspire others to see the heaven in the world around us. I personally believe the Armstrong Browning Library is one of those places on earth crammed with heaven.

I have truly enjoyed my first semester working at the Armstrong Browning and would like to thank Laura, Jennifer, Christi, Carolina, Rachel, and the other staff at the library who have made my experience an enjoyable one. I look forward to delving into more research and learning more about the Brownings and their Victorian contemporaries in our beautiful library.

“Mythic Women” Closing Announcement

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by Anna Clark, M.A. Student in History and Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

This fall, the Armstrong Browning Library & Museum is hosting “Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in ‘Fifine at the Fair,'” an exhibition exploring the topics of sexual desire, social class, and the male objectification of women in Robert Browning’s 1872 poem “Fifine at the Fair.” This exhibit was curated by Katrina Gallegos, a Master’s student of Museum Studies at Baylor University. Gallegos’ exhibit is on display in honor of the poem’s 150th anniversary from August 17, 2022 – February 15, 2023.

Come and see Katrina Gallegos’ Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in “Fifine at the Fair” before the exhibit closes on February 15, 2023!

Explore the Greco-Roman symbology of Browning’s poem “Fifine at the Fair” through Gallegos’ research and analysis of Browning’s various references to mythic women. Venus the goddess of love, Helen of Troy, Cleopatra of Egypt, and the singing sirens of myth are all symbols Browning’s character Don Juan employs in “Fifine at the Fair” to compare and objectify the two female characters, Donna Elvire and Fifine.

In her exhibit, Gallegos helps the viewer decode this language of symbology to uncover what Browning was intending to convey through his usage of mythic women, especially in comparison to their Victorian counterparts.

A 1872 first edition copy of Browning’s “Fifine at the Fair”

If you are not familiar with the poem or would like to refresh your memory, we have attached a hyperlink to a first edition copy of Browning’s “Fifine at the Fair” for your convenience: #3 – Fifine at the fair : and other poems / By Robert Browning. – Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library. 

Read more in this series of blog posts about the exhibit “Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in ‘Fifine at the Fair'”:

 

Interview with Katrina Gallegos, Curator of “Mythic Women”

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Interview Questions by Anna Clark, M.A. Student in History and Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

This fall, the Armstrong Browning Library & Museum is hosting “Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in ‘Fifine at the Fair,'” an exhibition exploring the topics of sexual desire, social class, and the male objectification of women in Robert Browning’s 1872 poem “Fifine at the Fair.” This exhibit was curated by Katrina Gallegos, a Master’s student of Museum Studies at Baylor University. Gallegos’ exhibit is on display in honor of the poem’s 150th anniversary from August 17, 2022 – February 15, 2023.

I had the opportunity to ask Katrina Gallegos some questions regarding her exhibit, Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in “Fifine at the Fair.” 

Gallegos is a M.A. candidate in the Museum Studies department at Baylor University. This past spring semester, Gallegos partnered with the Armstrong Browning Library and Museum to curate an exhibit exploring the topics of the male gaze, the sexual objectification of women, and Greco-Roman symbols in Robert Browning’s poem “Fifine at the Fair” on its 150th anniversary of publication.

Gallegos’ exhibit is on display in the Armstrong Browning Library and Museum Hankamer Treasure Room through February 15, 2023. We invite you to come see the exhibit before it closes this winter.

How did you become interested in creating an exhibit on Robert Browning’s “Fifine at the Fair”? 

“Fifine” was actually my second choice. Originally, I was going to curate an exhibit based on women poets of Texas. However, as I was researching secondary sources in ABL’s closed stacks I came across literature that swayed me to curate an exhibition based on the poem. This poem is one of Robert Browning’s more obscure works and it was published later in his life. 2022 celebrates the poem’s 150th anniversary.

A 1872 first edition of Browning’s “Fifine at the Fair” on display

How did your previous research experiences assist you with this exhibit? 

My background is in Spanish and the culinary arts, but my experience as a graduate student in the Department of Museum Studies aided my research. I have taken an exhibition curation course which taught us how to conduct preliminary research when developing a new exhibit. Additionally, my experience as a McNair Research Scholar at the undergraduate level assisted me in finding the secondary sources to support my thesis of the male gaze. There are published literary works in the Armstrong Browning Library’s periodicals which explore and analyze this theme. 

In your exhibit, you highlight how Browning wrote about the provocative subjects of sexuality, desire, and the male objectification of women in a conservative Victorian society. Why do you think Browning was willing to address such topics that were generally considered taboo in Victorian England?

Robert Browning

After reading the secondary literature and comparing that against contemporary sources one can find many examples of explicit sexuality in Victorian Literature. For example, Charlotte Brontë ‘s novel Wuthering Heights contains a few erotic scenes and sentiments. A specific example is when Heathcliff goes to Catherine’s bedchamber and replaces his rival’s hair with his own. The language of that and the succeeding scenes are erotic. And while not in the same generation, Lord Byron and the Romantics of the proceeding generation were a little scandalous. Also, if one looks to the Pre-Raphaelite movement of painting one can see both the male gaze, desire and sexuality. One famous painter Rossetti who was both a mentee and friend of Robert Browning painted many women who are beautiful and flirtatious. Also, if one considers the date of publication, 1872 one can posit why R. Browning wrote such a poem. By this point Elizabeth Barrett Browning (EBB) had been deceased for 11 years and R. Browning never remarried nor taken a lover, a close friend, nothing. One can only imagine he must have had moments of loneliness and desire, he was after all, a living breathing human just like you and me. However, there are some contemporary and more recent secondary sources that argue that this poem was written as a critique on the Rosetti’s love life. As mentioned before R. Browning and Rosetti were friends, yet Rosetti was not as devoted to his wife as R. Browning was with EBB. After the poem was published, Rosetti was furious and ended his friendship with R. Browning. Browning was astonished, and nothing could persuade Rosetti to reconsider. Rosetti believed it was a personal and public attack on his behavior. From my research I could not find any document written by R. Browning which supports this theory. If I were to be very generous, I’d say both could be true. R. Browning was lonely, still had desires, and also disapproved of his friend’s behavior. The Victorians were and were not conservative. As with any society it is nuanced. The era is named after one individual, Queen Victoria, who was conservative. Queen Victoria’s successor, her son Prince Albert, known as “Bertie” was a scandalously licentious in his behavior. He took many lovers outside of his marriage and was a disappointment to his mother. I believe we, 21st century denizens, attribute much of our beliefs of this time around one person’s values and behavior. This is a disservice because there is much more to this era than one person.    

How do you think Browning’s “Fifine at the Fair” contributed to late 19th century discussions regarding women’s suffrage, the cult of true womanhood, the aesthetic dress movement, and women’s role in both the private and public spheres? 

I do not think the poem contributed much to these discussions. If anything, the poem reinforces the idea of “true womanhood” through its fetishization of a minority woman in direct comparison to a white English woman. As far as women’s suffrage I am only guessing therefore the following is an opinion, Donna Elvire has less than 20 lines of speech in this poem, and it is only at the beginning. If I recall correctly, Fifine has none. Therefore, I’d argue that R. Browning was not appealing to the females in the room. Could a woman have read it and its content affirmed her belief that a woman should have a voice and a right, sure. But I cannot definitively say that it had that effect. I am not entirely familiar with the aesthetic dress movement so I cannot speak to it. However, I do think R. Browning’s wife, EBB, contributed much more to women’s rights. She delicately balanced her public and private roles in a way that was far more unexpected and influential than her husband’s. He did what was expected, she did not. EBB wrote poems about slavery and child labor; she was a poet activist.  

Satirical cartoon on what it means to be “a lady” versus “a woman”

What do you believe is the most enduring legacy of Browning’s “Fifine at the Fair” on its 150th anniversary of publication? 

That people change yet remain the same. Even today, different can be seen as exotic and desirable and a welcome relief from what expected and common. Also, famous people, poets, politicians, etc. are just people, they’re just trying to express themselves and figure it out like the rest of us.  

Read more in this series of blog posts about the exhibit “Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in ‘Fifine at the Fair'”:

 

Analyzing “Fifine at the Fair” Through Symbology

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by Anna Clark, M.A. Student in History and Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

This fall, the Armstrong Browning Library & Museum is hosting “Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in ‘Fifine at the Fair,'” an exhibition exploring the topics of sexual desire, social class, and the male objectification of women in Robert Browning’s 1872 poem “Fifine at the Fair.” This exhibit was curated by Katrina Gallegos, a Master’s student of Museum Studies at Baylor University. Gallegos’ exhibit is on display in honor of the poem’s 150th anniversary from August 17, 2022 – February 15, 2023.

Examining Browning’s Characters Through the Lens of Symbology

Gallegos is a graduate student at Baylor University pursuing her Master’s degree in Museum Studies. Employing her interest in symbology, Gallegos’ exhibit explores Greco-Roman symbols she uncovered through her analysis of Browning’s poem and how these symbols connect to the topics of sexuality, desire, and male objectification of women in the late 19th century.

Particularly, Gallegos explains the symbols Robert Browning employs to describe the three central characters of the poem: Don Juan, Don Juan’s staid wife Donna Elvire, and Fifine, the exotic gypsy woman who is the object of Don Juan’s sexual desire.

Don Juan

Gallegos explains Browning’s usage of Don Juan, a fictional folk figure throughout European literature whose reputation is synonymous with being a womanizer. From the first introduction of Don Juan in the Spanish dramatist Tirso de Molina’s play The Trickster and and the Stone Guest, the Casanova character of Don Juan lives in the public imagination as a man who enjoys the thrill of seduction and conquest of women regardless of socioeconomic class and marital status.

In “Fifine at the Fair,” Don Juan is portrayed by Browning as a Victorian gentleman of education and rank. He is married to Donna Elvire, his wife of many years, and the two are first depicted as having a loving relationship. However, Gallegos points out that this marriage is not as happy as it appears. Despite his respect for Donna Elvire’s virtues, Don Juan has the roving gaze of his namesake and unjustly compares his loyal wife to a gypsy woman he sees at the fair named Fifine.

Gallegos describes how Don Juan attempts to justify his sexual objectification of both his wife and the gypsy through reference to Greek and Roman myths.

A satirical cartoon depicting a man’s sexual fantasies

Donna Elvire

The symbols used to describe Don Juan’s wife Donna Elvire are, as Gallegos points out, nautical. In the poem, Don Juan compares his wife to a “calm sea” and a “sturdy ship.” Gallegos connects these nautical metaphors to Greco-Roman mythology in which women were often associated with the sea. The mythological characters of Venus, the goddess of love and beauty who rose from the sea at birth, and the sirens, female mermaids who led sailors to their death by their enticing songs, are important symbols in the poem.

A woman in Victorian dress

It is of note that Donna Elvire is compared to a calm sea and a sturdy ship, not to the beautiful Venus or the enchanting sirens of myth. Instead, Gallegos argues that Donna Elvire is a passive character, who is along for the ride like a ship at a calm sea and steady wind. She is silent throughout most of the poem, overtaken by the dominating personality of Don Juan and his monologues on idealized female beauty.

Fifine

Whereas Donna Elvire is plain and respectable, Fifine is depicted through Don Juan’s male gaze as alluring and seductive. Gallegos notes the comparisons to various femme fatales throughout Greco-Roman mythology: Helen of Troy, the goddess Venus, and Cleopatra. Fifine is described with a “Greek-nymph nose,” “Hebrew eyes,” “spangled hips,” and “wiry hair,” which all add to her exotic appeal.

In the poem, Don Juan peers upon Fifine as she is changing and refuses to avert his gaze. Instead of acknowledging his wrongdoing, Don Juan blames Fifine’s attractive appearance for his lustful eye and thoughts. Gallegos explains how Don Juan attempts to use his comparisons to Greco-Roman mythological symbols to justify his betrayal of his wife and objectification of a young gypsy girl; like the Helen and Cleopatra figures of old, Fifine’s irresistible beauty has left Don Juan at the whim of his passions.

Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty

Gallegos asks her audience to reflect on the issues of the phenomena of the male gaze and the objectification of women through her study of Browning’s characters. These topics of lust, sexuality, and objectification are especially interesting in the context of Robert Browning’s Victorian England of 1872.

Come and celebrate the 150th anniversary of Browning’s complex poem “Fifine at the Fair” through the research of Katrina Gallegos. The exhibit will be on display in the Armstrong Browning Library and Museum’s Hankamer Treasure Room through February 15, 2023.

Read more in this series of blog posts about the exhibit “Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in ‘Fifine at the Fair'”:

Introducing the Mythic Women in “Fifine at the Fair”

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by Anna Clark, Master’s Candidate in History and Armstrong Browning Library Graduate Research Assistant

This fall, the Armstrong Browning Library & Museum is hosting “Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in ‘Fifine at the Fair,'” an exhibition exploring the topics of sexual desire, social class, and the male objectification of women in Robert Browning’s 1872 poem “Fifine at the Fair.” This exhibit was curated by Katrina Gallegos, a Master’s student of Museum Studies at Baylor University. Gallegos’ exhibit is on display in honor of the poem’s 150th anniversary from August 17, 2022 – February 15, 2023* (date extended).

The Victorians are remembered for being conservative—in their dress, their customs, and their culture. Therefore, it is surprising to see provocative subjects explored in Victorian art, literature, and poetry. Victorians explored topics such as desire, infidelity, gender, and sexuality, and used their art as an expressive outlet in response to a restrictive society.

Because of the conservative nature of the dominant social culture, authors and artists used coded language to express their inner desires, thoughts, and emotions. This coded language often employed classical symbols from Roman and Greek antiquity. Victorians also used this coded language to prove their intellectual prowess among their peers. For modern readers and viewers, these examples may not seem provocative because the authors and artists used complicated language and obscure references. Some memorable authors and artists who employed provocative language and themes were Robert Browning, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Lord Byron, and Julia Margaret Cameron. 

Katrina Gallegos’ exhibit Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in “Fifine at the Fair” decodes the complex language found in Browning’s poem, “Fifine at the Fair,” specifically, examining the themes of sexuality, desire, the male gaze, and social class on the poem’s 150th anniversary.

Gallegos is a graduate student at Baylor University pursuing her Master’s degree in Museum Studies. Employing her interest in symbology, Gallegos’ exhibit explores Greco-Roman symbols she uncovered through her analysis of Browning’s poem and how these symbols connect to the topics of sexuality, desire, and male objectification of women in the late 19th century.

Helen of Troy, one of the mythic women symbolized in the poem

Particularly, Gallegos explains the symbols Robert Browning employs to describe the three central characters of the poem: Don Juan, Don Juan’s staid wife Donna Elvire, and Fifine, the exotic gypsy woman who is the object of Don Juan’s sexual desire.

Gallegos’ exhibit will be on display in the Hankamer Treasure Room from August 17th through February 15th, 2023. We invite you to visit this exhibit to explore the symbols in Browning’s work and reflect on the enduring legacy of “Fifine at the Fair” 150 years after its publication. 

If you are not familiar with the poem or would like to refresh your memory, we have attached a hyperlink to a first edition copy of Browning’s “Fifine at the Fair” for your convenience: #3 – Fifine at the fair : and other poems / By Robert Browning. – Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library. 

Frontispiece of the 1872 edition of Browning’s “Fifine at the Fair”

Read more in this series of blog posts about the exhibit “Mythic Women: Archetypal Symbology in ‘Fifine at the Fair'”:

Introducing the Armstrong Browning Library’s Graduate Research Assistant, 2022-2023

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The Armstrong Browning Library has a new Graduate Research Assistant this fall. A graduate research assistantship provides a student insight into the day-to-day operations of a special collections library and the uses and importance of primary source materials. Graduate Research Assistants receive practical experience handling, processing, and preserving rare books and manuscripts. Additionally, they have the opportunity to digitize materials, develop and install exhibits, and prepare and participate in delivering instruction sessions for classes utilizing Armstrong Browning Library materials.

Anna Clark

Hometown: Jackson, MI

Major: History

Why are you completing an MA in History?
I am interested in teaching and writing about different historical perspectives. I am especially passionate about US and British history, more specifically transatlantic relations between the United States and Great Britain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. My interest in transatlantic relations has largely been influenced by my study-abroad experience at the University of Oxford where I had the opportunity to study various British perspectives of the American Revolution. I hope to continue my education and eventually earn a PhD degree to become a college history professor.

What do you hope to learn while working at the ABL?
I hope to learn more about nineteenth century writers such as the Brownings and other literary figures whose work is featured in the Armstrong Browning Library and Museum. I am interested in writing my MA thesis regarding foreign policy, particularly the diplomatic relationship between the United States and Great Britain from the era of the American Revolution through the American Civil War, and I hope my exposure to nineteenth century archival materials at the ABL will inspire and assist me in my own historical research.

What are you looking forward to about working at the ABL?
I am excited to work with the staff at the ABL and to assist others in their research inquiries as well as contribute my own research to the institution. I am also looking forward to learning more about the nineteenth century through historical study of the Brownings and their contemporaries.