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Background

Emily Brontë was the fifth child of Patrick Brontë and Maria Branwell. She is known for her intense gothic novel, Wuthering Heights, which has remained consistently among the top three best-selling English language classic novels.

Emily’s is reported to have been unsociable and extremely shy. After her death from tuberculosis, Charlotte said the following about her:

“My sister’s disposition was not naturally gregarious; circumstances favoured and fostered her tendency to seclusion; except to go to church or take a walk on the hills, she rarely crossed the threshold of home. Though her feeling for the people round was benevolent, intercourse with them she never sought; nor, with very few exceptions, ever experienced. And yet she knew them: knew their ways, their language, their family histories; she could hear of them with interest, and talk of them with detail, minute, graphic, and accurate; but WITH them, she rarely exchanged a word.”

A family portrait painted by Branwell. You can see where he painted himself out of the picture – taken at the Brontë Museum

Facts about Emily Brontë

Some interesting facts and stories about Emily are as follows:

Emily was good at art, as were her siblings Charlotte, Anne and Branwell. Emily was largely self-taught and learned to draw by copying images from manuals and popular prints of the day. There are 19 surviving illustrations created by Emily and these include a series of pen and ink sketches, some paintings, mainly water colours, a few pencil drawings, some engravings and a geometry exercise.

Picture caption: Emily’s paint box – taken at the Brontë Museum

Emily and her sisters all had portable writing desks. When opened, the lid and bottom formed one continuous sloped surface for writing. They closed up into rectangular cases not much larger than a shoebox. The girls used these desks to store their writing and keep other precious possessions. Emily found pens troublesome and this is apparent from the stained appearance of her writing slope and her ink blotted manuscripts. She dug the nib of her pen into the paper and cleaned it by dragging it along the page. Her blotting paper has holes in it from her hasty clearings of her nib.

Picture caption: Emily’s portable writing desk – taken at the Brontë Museum

Emily was a dog lover and owned a large animal named Keeper. Keeper’s collar is on display at the Brontë Museum in Yorkshire. There is an interesting story told about Emily and her relationship with Keeper: When Keeper first arrived at the parsonage, the dog had a habit of going upstairs and jumping on the bed and stretching out on the clean bedspreads for his naps. Emily cured him of this habit by beating him about the eyes until he was almost blind from the swelling. She then led him into the kitchen and tended to his wounds herself.

Emily featured dogs in her novel, Wuthering Heights. In one instance, Hareton Earnshaw hangs a litter of puppies from a chair back. This was a normal way to kill unwanted dogs on a working farm at this time.  Heathcliff also hangs Isabella’s springer, named Fanny, by a handkerchief after they elope together. The dog almost dies as a result.

Emily and her sister, Anne, created an imaginary world called Gondal, a sprawling imaginary island located in the Pacific Ocean that was led by women. The two ladies wrote long poems that described Gondal’s dynasties and political battles. The poems by Emily that were included in the combined poetry book she published with Charlotte and Anne were based on Gondal, but were amended to remove the references to this world and its women-led aspects.

Emily had to pay to have her novel Wuthering Heights published in December 1847 by Thomas Cautley Newby. It appeared as a double volume with Anne’s Agnes Grey and the pair had to pay the publisher £50.

About Robbie Cheadle

South African author, photographer, and artist, Robbie Cheadle, has written and illustrated seventeen children’s books, illustrated a further three children’s books, written and illustrated four poetry books and written and illustrated one celebration of cake and fondant art book with recipes. Her work has also appeared in poetry and short story anthologies.

Robbie also has two novels and a collection of short stories published under the name of Roberta Eaton Cheadle and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories featured in several anthologies under this name.

You can find Robbie Cheadle’s artwork, fondant and cake artwork, and all her books on her website here: https://www.robbiecheadle.co.za/

Social Media Links

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/robbiecheadle.bsky.social
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVyFo_OJLPqFa9ZhHnCfHUA
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15584446.Robbie_Cheadle
TSL Publications: https://tslbooks.uk/product-tag/robbie-cheadle/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Robbie-Cheadle/author/B01N9J62GQ
Unsplash profile: https://unsplash.com/@r_cheadle