P.B.B. was no domestic demon; he was just a man moving in a mist who lost his way. More sinned against than sinning... at least he proved the reality of his sorrows. They killed him.
~ Francis Grundy
Although this is not the first time we post these words, we still hold them to be one of the most accurate things ever said about Branwell.
Nowadays Branwell Brontë is still considered the bad boy of the Brontë family; a good-for-nothing drunkard who only served to upset his sisters. And while this might be true to the very last months of his life, its is also true that it was this boy who became the driving force of the imaginary worlds of Angria and Gondal. It was this boy who showed his sisters what they were capable of.
His poems were published in several newspapers in his lifetime and his poetry work, albeit not read - and not available - widely, witnesses to a prodigious mind. Hartley Coleridge too praised his translation of Horace's Odes and encouraged him to follow that path.
So, even if for one day only, let's try and see beyond Mrs Gaskell's legendary vision of Branwell and let's look at the proud, funny, gentleman-like young man who took a wrong turn along the way.
Categories: Branwell Brontë, Reminder
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