Branwell Brontë: 193 years old today

Here's wishing a happy birthday to every Brontëite's favourite bad boy. We all know how he would have loved to celebrate: at the pub, of course. And although he never got around to writing his big masterpiece, he still managed to be famous today and certainly not just through his poetry and translations (or his 'reincarnation' as John Lennon).

In the eyes of his family and also in the eyes of generations to come who have read his wonderful juvelia and later literary output, he never fulfilled his promise. The Brontë story would have been a radically different one had Branwell had the self-discipline of his sisters or the ambition of his father.

Thanks to his sisters, Branwell - close to 200 years after his birth - still manages to sparkle, to lure all sorts of people into his brilliant, sad, pathetic life just like he lured travellers at the pub with his stories. And that's quite a feat.

EDIT: Les Brontës à Paris joins in this celebration.

Picture: The life of Feild [sic] Marshal the Right Honourable Alexan[d]er Percy, autograph manuscript, 1835 (Source: Leeds University Library)

Categories: Branwell Brontë, Reminder