In brief
Charlotte Brontë showcased her budding talent with an anthology of her poetry at the tender age of 13. Now, nearly 200 years later, this remarkable collection of verses is being shared with the public for the first time.
In a timely celebration of her 209th birthday, the Brontë Parsonage Museum has unveiled "Book of Rhymes," a compilation of 10 poems penned by the renowned author in the winter of 1829. Deftly inscribed on scraps of paper no bigger than playing cards, these poems were meticulously stitched together, revealing Brontë's early ambition to become a writer during a time when female authorship was largely unacknowledged.The collection includes diverse works: an ode to nature, an aspiring epic, and a piece humorously titled “A Thing of Fourteen Lines — Commonly Called a [Sonnet?]”. The anthology holds further significance as it captures Brontë's artistic process, showcasing edits, deletions, and her evolving perspective as a writer.According to Ann Dinsdale, the principal curator of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, these early works “chart her development as a writer,” providing a window into her creative journey. In addition to the published collection, the original manuscript—which had been lost for over a century—will soon be showcased at the museum in Haworth, Northern England. Charlotte's early venture into poetry, which began at age 10 and blossomed into various works by the age of 14, exemplifies her desire to contribute to the literary world despite the constraints placed on women in her era.
