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Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era, renowned for her rich verse and impassioned style, which delved deeply into questions of social injustices, gender issues, and personal love. Born in County Durham, England, Browning was a precocious child, composing poems from a very young age. Her substantial body of work reflected her scholarly erudition and included many notable collections, such as 'Sonnets from the Portuguese,' a series of love sonnets written to her husband, the poet Robert Browning. Perhaps her most ambitious work, 'Aurora Leigh' (1856), is an epic novel-poem which put forth progressive ideas regarding feminism and reform, laying bare the challenges and hypocrisies faced by women of her time. This seminal narrative poem is often considered her magnum opus, blending Victorian poetics with bold narrative style and social commentary, unprecedented in the scope and depth of its female perspective. Substantial in its length and intricate in form, 'Aurora Leigh' straddles the realms of lyrical poetry and modern novel. Browning's work was highly influential in her time and continues to be studied and revered for its intensity, intellectual breadth, and profound empathy for the human condition.
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