The reprinting history of the Brontës’ poems during the 19th century

The University of St Thomas Newsroom reports that one of its professors has contributed an article to The Edinburgh Companion to the Brontës and the Arts, edited by Deborah Wynne and Amber K. Regis; Edinburgh University Press, 2025.

The article, “A Reprinting History of the Brontës’ Poetry, 1850-1899,” by University of St. Thomas English Professor Alexis Easley, has been published in The Edinburgh Companion to the Brontës and the Arts, edited by Deborah Wynne and Amber K. Regis; Edinburgh University Press, 2025.

Easley’s research found that despite poor initial sales, books of poetry by the Brontë sisters found a wider audience through reprintings in newspapers, periodicals, and anthologies. From 1846 to 1899, 120 poems by the Brontës were reprinted 408 times. Charlotte’s poetry was the most widely reprinted, followed by Emily’s and Anne’s.

Easley’s article addresses the process she took in her research. Easley, who is chair of the Departments of English and Communication Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at St. Thomas, wrote: 

In order to trace the reprinting history of the Brontës’ poems during the 19th century, I created a spreadsheet listing the titles of all of the poems by the Brontë sisters known to have appeared in print during the 19th century. I then conducted key-phrase searches for the first line of each poem in six full-text online archives: Google Books, British Periodicals, American Periodicals, British Library Newspapers, British Newspaper Archive, and ProQuest Historical Newspapers. These archives include facsimiles of thousands of newspapers, periodicals, and anthologies published during the 19th century, both in Great Britain and the United States. They of course represent only a small fraction of the material published during the 19th century; thus, any of my conclusions about the reprinting history of the Brontës’ poems must be viewed as tentative. However, an exploration of what reprintings are accessible via online databases reveals that the Brontës’ verse was widely disseminated within diverse reading communities. (Sheree Curry)

Elle comments on 'an interactive map with the best novels set in every city in the world' but

The United Kingdom has some ground to cover, with each nation having its own identity and view of history. (Editor’s Note: I will say, there is a startling lack of Austen and Bronte on this list, but we can only assume that’s an oversight…) (Rebecca Mitchell)

Mui (in Spanish) recommends Wuthering Heights as one of the three most romantic books in the world and good to read in the winter, too.