Works

Emily Brontë's works are few, but they include:

Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell (1847): a collection of poems written by Emily and two of her sisters; Anne and Charlotte.

Wuthering Heights (1848): a novel based on the Yorkshire Moors. It tells the tale of the entangled maze of love and family relationships surrounding the two main characters, Catherine and Heathcliff. The novel deals with themes of revenge, class, prejudice, love, ghosts and human being's connection with nature. The book was not popular and widely criticized when first written, but became a classic of English literature.

Legends of Angria (1933): a collection of poems written by Emily, Anne and Charlotte published post mortum.

Gondal's Queen (1955): a collection of poems written by Emily and published post mortum.

Awards and/or Recognitions

In it's day, Wuthering Heights gained mixed criticism. It was seen as imaginative, but unlikeable with contemptible characters.

Charlotte Brontë wrote a preface for the second edition of Wuthering Heights where she defended her sister's creative skills. About Wuthering Heights she wrote: "Critics failed to do (it) justice. The immature but very real powers in Wuthering Heights were misunderstood; the author was misrepresented." She went on to say, "...this I know: the writer who possesses the creative gift owns something of which is not always master--something that, at times, strangely wills and works for itself...If the result be attractive, the World will praise you, who little deserve praise; if it be repulsive, the same World will blame you, who almost as little deserve blame."

Emily Brontë never received any literary awards, but is considered one of the beloved and widely read classics of English literature.

My favorite peice...

My favorite work by Emily Brontë is her only novel, Wuthering Heights published in 1848. I enjoy Wuthering Heights because it is a gothic novel with strong themes of nature and complicated family relationships. It was also written by a women in a time when women writers were not very numerous, nor accepted favorably in the literary world. So the novel also deals with gender relations.

Why do I like Emily Brontë?

I like the author Emily Bronte because she is a strong female writer that wrote and published works when it was unpopular and very difficult for women to have a voice in society or the literary world. Emily was half formally and half self-educated and still managed to create one of the great classics of English literature. Bronte's work includes strong themes that I enjoy in literature including psychological battles, human's connections with nature, hauntings or spiritual encounters as well as issues surrounding family and gender relations.

Sample Reading...

"Miss Cathy, who had listened to the hubbub from her room, put her head in, and whispered—

"Are you alone, Nelly?"

"Yes miss," I replied.

She entered and approached the hearth. I, supposing she was going to say something, looked up. The expression of her face seemed disturbed and anxious. Her lips were half asunder, as if she meant to speak, and she drew a breath; but it escaped in a sigh instead of a sentence. I resumed my song; not having forgotten her recent behaviour.

"Where's Heathcliff?" she said, interrupting me.

"About his work in the stable," was my answer.

He did not contradict me; perhaps he had fallen into a doze.

There followed another long pause, during which I perceived a drop or two trickle from Catherine's cheek to the flags. Is she sorry for her shameful conduct? I asked myself. That will be a novelty: but she may come to the point as she will—I shan't help her! No, she felt small trouble regarding any subject, save her own concerns.

"Oh, dear!" she cried at last. "I'm very unhappy!"

"A pity," observed I. "You're hard to please: so many friends and so few cares, and can't make yourself content!"

"Nelly, will you keepasecret for me?" she pursued, kneeling down by me, and lifting her winsome eyes to my face with that sort of look which turns off bad temper, even when one has all the right in the world to indulge it.

"Is it worth keeping?" I inquired, less sulkily.

"Yes, and it worries me, and I must let it out! I want to know what I should do. To-day, Edgar Linton has asked me to marry him, and I've given him an answer. Now, before I tell you whether it was a consent or denial, you tell me which it ought to have been."

"Really, Miss Catherine, how can I know?" I replied. "To be sure, considering the exhibition you performed in his presence this afternoon, I might say it would be wise to refuse him: since he asked you after that, he must either be hopelessly stupid or a venturesome fool."

"If you talk so, I won't tell you any more," she returned peevishly, rising to her feet. "I accepted him, Nelly. Be quick, and say whether I was wrong!"

"You accepted him I then what good is it discussing the matter? You have pledged your word, and cannot retract?"

"But, say whether I should have done so—do!" she exclaimed in an irritated tone; chafing her hands together, and frowning.

"There are many things to be considered before that question can be answered properly," I said sententiously. "First and foremost, do you love Mr. Edgar?"

"Who can help it? Of course I do," she answered.

Then I put her through the following catechism: for a girl of twenty-two it was not injudicious.

"Why do you love him, Miss Cathy?"

"Nonsense, I do—that's sufficient."

(.......)

"If I were in heaven, Nelly, I should be extremely miserable."

"Because you are not fit to go there," I answered. "All sinners would be miserable in heaven."

"But it is not for that. I dreamt once that I was there."

"I tell you I won't hearken to your dreams, Miss Catherine! I'll go to bed," I interrupted again.

She laughed, and held me down; for I made a motion to leave my chair.

"This is nothing," cried she: "I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home ; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy. That will do to explain my secret, as well as the other. I've no more business to marry Edgar Linton thau I have to be in heaven; and if the wicked man in there had not brought Heathcliff so low, I shouldn't have thought of it. It would degrade me to marry Heathcliff now; so he shall never know how I love him: and that, not because he's handsome, Nelly, but because he's more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same; and Linton's is as different as a moonbeam from lightning, or frost from fire."

Ere this speech ended, I became sensible of Heathcliff s presence. Having noticed a slight movement, I turned my head, and saw him rise from the bench, and steal out noiselessly. He had listened till he heard Catherine say it would degrade her to marry him, and then he stayed to hear no further. My companion, sitting on the ground, was prevented by the back of the settle from remarking his presence or departure; but I started, mid bade her hush.

Of Interest...

Here is the opening scene of a movie interpretation of Wuthering Heights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5GBxmVvbE0

Bio

Emily Jane Brontë was born on July 30, 1818 in Yorkshire, England. She was the fifth of six children born to Maria Branwell and Patrick Brontë. When Brontë was six the family moved to Haworth, in the country, where Brontë and her sister Charlotte did most of their writing. The four oldest sisters in the family, including Emily, attended the Clergy Daughter's School, but were removed when the oldest daughter became sick with tuberculosis. Sisters Maria and Elizabeth died at home soon after, leaving Charlotte and Emily and their brother Patrick to be educated by their father. Much of Emily's childhood included inventing and playing out stories with her siblings and wrting poems and scraps of other stories. Emily attempted to be a teacher at a nearby school,but couldn't handle the stress level and returned home. She stayed at home occupying herself with household chores and teaching herself German and the piano. When she was twenty six she traveled to Brussels, Belgium with her sister Charlotte. They were attempting to gain skills to open their own school in England. Upon return home, the sisters attempted to open their school, but could not encourage many students to come to their remote school. In 1846 Emily along with her two other sisters who had also been writing throughout their teenage and adult lives, published a collection of poetry called poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, their pen names. The following year in 1847, Emily published her only novel, Wuthering Heights under her real name. In 1848 Emily fell ill with a cold, her condition worsened partly due to the fact that she refused medical care. She died on December 1848. Emily had few friends and wrote few letters during her life. She kept to herslef, but nevertheless was remembered by her family and those who knew her for her force of character. About her, Charlotte wrote "In Emily's nature, the extremes of vigour and simplicity seemed to meet...her temper was magnanimous, but warm and sudden; her spirit alltogether unbending." Emily grew up reading such authors as Johnathan Swift (Gulliver's Travels), John Milton (Paradise Lost), Mary Shelley (Frankenstein) and William Blake (poet).