Elizabeth Barrett was regarded by her father as “a prodigy of intellectual powers and acquirements”, and a chronic invalid. Then in 1846, at the age of 40, Elizabeth secretly married and eloped with Robert Browning, and thereafter she ceased to exist for her father. Marriage transformed her at first; she became well and active, produced a healthy son, and wrote her best poems. But increasingly she missed her father and waited impatiently for his forgiveness. He never forgave her, and slowly she relapsed into invalidism. His death ended her hopes; she wasted away and died three years later in 1861.
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