Aurora Leigh
Title
Aurora Leigh
Text Read
Aurora Leigh
Author
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett
Original Source
London: Chapman & Hall, 1857
Digitized by
Internet Archive
Publication Date
1857
Date(s) of Reading
- 1857-03-[?]
- 1857-04-08
- 1857-04-22
Evidence
1857-03-[?]: Recollections of the Scilly Isles, 1857. “Our readings aloud were Cromwell's Letters, Aurora Leigh (for the 2d time), Life of Charlotte Bronte, Maury's Physical Geography of the Sea, 912 Twelfth Night and Macbeth, and Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. I read the Œdipus Tyrannus and the Œdipus Coloneus, De Quincey's Glories of Stage Coach Travelling and Revolt of the Tartars, and the greater part of Shelley's poems.” GEL 2: 358
1857-04-08: "April 8th. Since I made the last entry in my journal we have had many delicious walks and seen many beautiful sights - on clear days the smaller islands with their lovely colouring specking the blue sea, the white foam prancing round them; on more sombre days the grand rocky coast of the southern side of St. Mary's - Peninis, the Giant's Castle etc. Or we have walked over the furze and heath clad hills and heard the air ringing with larks. Since we came here Chrissey has lost her pretty little Fanny, and I am still waiting anxiously for news of Katy and herself- both ill as ever when I last heard. News, too, has come from Barbara in Algiers - the probability of her marrying Dr. Bodichon, a French army physician. Today I have finished Mr. Gilfil's Love Story". We are reading Carlyle's Cromwell and Aurora Leigh again in the evenings. I am still in the Oedipus Tyrannus, with Shelley's poems, and snatches of Natural History." Diary 1854-1861 68
1857-04-22: "22. Letter from my Brother saying Chrissey is worse. I am deeply depressed and feeling the ills of life more than the blessings, though these are so many. A letter from Barbara too. Reading the Oedipus Coloneus and Shelley. I have begun Draper's Physiology, too but rarely have spirit and clearness of brain for it. Tonight we finished Aurora Leigh for the second time." Diary 1854-1861 68
1857-04-08: "April 8th. Since I made the last entry in my journal we have had many delicious walks and seen many beautiful sights - on clear days the smaller islands with their lovely colouring specking the blue sea, the white foam prancing round them; on more sombre days the grand rocky coast of the southern side of St. Mary's - Peninis, the Giant's Castle etc. Or we have walked over the furze and heath clad hills and heard the air ringing with larks. Since we came here Chrissey has lost her pretty little Fanny, and I am still waiting anxiously for news of Katy and herself- both ill as ever when I last heard. News, too, has come from Barbara in Algiers - the probability of her marrying Dr. Bodichon, a French army physician. Today I have finished Mr. Gilfil's Love Story". We are reading Carlyle's Cromwell and Aurora Leigh again in the evenings. I am still in the Oedipus Tyrannus, with Shelley's poems, and snatches of Natural History." Diary 1854-1861 68
1857-04-22: "22. Letter from my Brother saying Chrissey is worse. I am deeply depressed and feeling the ills of life more than the blessings, though these are so many. A letter from Barbara too. Reading the Oedipus Coloneus and Shelley. I have begun Draper's Physiology, too but rarely have spirit and clearness of brain for it. Tonight we finished Aurora Leigh for the second time." Diary 1854-1861 68
Citation
Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, Aurora Leigh, George Eliot's Reading, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/57278