The life and legacy of Branwell Brontë

Tomorrow will mark the 178th anniversary of Branwell Bronté's death and The Telegraph and Argus takes a look at recent and forthcoming talks about him.

Talks exploring the life and legacy of Branwell Brontë are taking place at the Brontë Parsonage and Brontë Birthplace.

The events aim to shed light on the often-overlooked brother of the famous Brontë sisters, who made his mark as both an artist and poet but whose life was ultimately overshadowed by personal struggles.

On September 22, the Brontë Birthplace hosted an online talk titled Sibling Rivalry: Unpacking the Art of Branwell Brontë, led by guest speaker Dr Maebh O’Regan.

The talk explored Branwell’s artistic output, focusing on his creative process.

Branwell’s most well-known work is The Brontë Sisters Portrait, also known as The Pillar Portrait, painted in 1834.

Though the piece has received negative criticism, it remains one of the most popular works in the British National Portrait Gallery.

Later in the week, the Brontë Parsonage will present an in-person and online talk on September 24, titled Grief and Loss in the Writing of Branwell Brontë.

Led by Brontë scholar Rose Gant, the talk will begin at 2pm at the Parsonage, with a Zoom session offered at 7.30pm.

A spokesman for the Brontë Parsonage said: "Like his siblings, Branwell suffered a series of losses throughout his lifetime, attending the deathbed of his mother, his aunt and his close friend William Weightman.

"Branwell drew on these losses as inspiration for his writing, capturing his experiences in both his letters and poetry.

"This talk will explore these writings, looking at both the inspirations and how Branwell captures his experiences of grief." (Amelia Short)

The Telegraph features 'The battle to save Brontë country from England’s biggest wind farm'.

As bleak as it is beautiful, the windswept landscape of the South Pennines and its surrounding settlements in West Yorkshire fuelled the imagination of the Brontë sisters as they wrote their works in the mid-19th century.

“In the hill-country silence, their poetry comes by lines and stanzas into my mind,” wrote Charlotte Brontë, reflecting on the moorland after the deaths of her sisters, Anne and Emily.

Yet residents warn the setting that inspired the Brontës could be lost forever to England’s largest onshore wind farm. [...]

“It’s not just a local moor,” explains Nick MacKinnon, who lives in the small village of Stanbury. “It’s internationally designated twice, and it’s internationally famous as the Brontë moor. [...]

As for the wind farm’s ramifications for tourism, Calderdale Energy Park said: “Our assessment work to date concludes that Top Withens and its Brontë associations would remain intact, with no harm to its heritage significance.”

Yet Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, is not convinced.

“You can’t separate the Brontës’ work and the influence on them from the landscape itself,” she says. “The two are completely entwined.”

Despite having seen visitor numbers increase by 20pc, in part because of the release of Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights, Yorke believes the tourism related to the literary heritage would be affected if the project went ahead, given the landscape would be “forever changed”.

“Wuthering Heights is full of references to wildlife, particularly birds, such as lapwings and skylarks, which are around today. And there are also several mentions of peat in the novel,” she says

“The Brontës themselves were well aware of the nature which made up the moors.”

Yorke points to the final line of Wuthering Heights in which Lockwood, seemingly untouched by the turbulence he has witnessed, ponders the “quiet earth” of Brontë country.

“If Calderdale Energy Park is not stopped, then the ‘quiet’ of this unique and special place will be shattered by the industrial hum of turbines, and the ‘earth’ replaced by tons of concrete,” she says. (Robert White)

The fact that Calderdale Energy Park are wilfully misunderstanding what 'landscape' means and the very real fears of local residents (and not just local residents) for the area says it all really. We sincerely hope the plans will fall through and the sooner the better.

Indie Boulevard features Amanda Fagan whose new song ‘Forever Yearn’ 'takes its heart from Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights'.

The couple in the song burn with feeling, however let their pride stand between them. Years pass. Only then do the lyrical protagonists see what they’ve lost, and by that point, the door is already closed. What remains is longing that never fades and hunger with nowhere left to go.

Amanda Fagan treats this story with lightness, allowing the sadness to come through naturally. “Forever Yearn” is a minor tragedy concerning timing and stubbornness, in that two lives can easily drift apart when neither of the individuals is willing to yield first.

The song takes a classic story of ruined passion and turns it into a personal and up-to-date account, one that deals with the cost of delaying too long in saying what is important. (Layla Moore)