Book Description

The renowned Hatfield edition includes verse from an early, pseudonymous volume entitled Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, as well as 200 works collected from various manuscript sources after Brontë's death in 1848.

Customer Reviews (2)

Wonderful Collection
Emily Bronte's poetry is wild and beautiful.Ranging between gentle melancholy to fierce pride, her poems successfully capture human emotion.Many of her poems are about, or written from the viewpoint of the inhabitants of, the fictional kingdom of Gondal.Although these are set in an imaginary land, the Gondal poems stand well alongside the more personal verse.This particular volume is valuable because it includes a description and history of the Gondal saga Emily and her sister Anne created.It is often hard, in other collections, to tell which is personal and which is fictional, but here the Gondal poems are listed.This is very useful to those who wish to study this creation of the Bronte imagination.Also useful is the the chronological order of the poems (as far as can be determined), which makes it easy to follow her development as a poet.I recommend it highly.

Breathtaking
Few who read Emily Bronte's poems and magnificent novel, Wuthering Heights, can fail to be moved by the sheer power of her language and insight. Though her tragic early death robbed the world of countlessliterary treasures, EJB's poetry here provides plenty of beautiful poetry(some of it foreshadowing WH) for those who love her to enjoy and study.Read it and savor it. ... Read more

Book Description
Demonstrating the remarkable range of their powers, this volume of three works by the Bronte sisters offers readers the opportunity to witness their unique combination of realism and romance which places these novels among the greatest works of nineteenth century literature. Charlotte Bronte's
Jane Eyre met immediate success when it was first published in 1847 and remains a much-loved classic. Considered by the public to be rough and strange when it was originally published, Emily Bronte's only novel Wuthering Heights has become one the most popular of all English novels. The Tenant of
Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte's second novel, was a dramatic and courageous challenge to the conventions supposedly upheld by Victorian society. It has since become a classic, compelling in its imaginative power, the realism and range of its dialogue, and its psychological insight into the characters
involved in a marital battle. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

My favorite piece of literature
How can I put into words how much I love this book? I read it for the first time when I was 12, and at 26, it still has the power to stir me as it once did. It has everything one could possibly want in a book. Romance, lust, horrid relatives, a brooding hero, near-death experiences, and to top it off, a mad woman in the attic.I have read literally hundreds and hundreds of books, some more than once, and still Jane Eyre remains my favorite. It is , in my opinion, a must-read in everyone's lifetime. The best of the Bronte sisters work, let alone Charlotte's, you cannot possibly be disappionted at reading this book.

A Brit Lit classic
Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" was never one of my favorite British novels. However, I finally revisited the book after many years and enjoyed it much more this time around.

Jane Eyre is a young, determined girl who is determined to find her proper place in the world. As an orphan who was brought up by her cruel aunt, Jane is sent away to boarding school at a young age, where she and the other students suffer under the hand of an evil headmaster. Things improve at the school when the institution's poor conditions are brought to light following a typhus epidemic, and Jane finishes her schooling and then remains at the facility as a teacher for several years.

Although she's content working at the school, Jane still thinks that life has something else in store for her. She accepts a governess position at Thornfield Manor, where she is employed by the dark, brooding Mr. Rochester. Despite his rather surly disposition, Jane finds herself falling in love with Rochester, and is stunned when he returns her affections and proposes marriage. Unfortunately, the wedding never takes place due to a massive secret that Rochester unsuccessfully tries to keep hidden. Jane ultimately flees Thornfield and arrives at another manor called Marsh End, where many surprises await her. Another man eventually proposes marriage to Jane, but she must listen to her heart and return to the one place where she's ever truly felt at home.

Jane possesses great strength, self-worth and personal dignity. She's a woman who stays true to her principles throughout her entire life, regardless of the many challenges thrown into her path. Also, "Jane Eyre" is a love story of sorts, and it has a very romantic ending, which I always enjoy.

I still think there are parts of this novel that really drag, but I appreciate it a lot more than I did when I was younger. "Jane Eyre" doesn't come close to "Wuthering Heights," in my opinion (Emily was SO the better Bronte!), but it definitely stands on its own as one of the first truly feminist novels ever written.

A "Regular People" Review
OK, I'm no smarter than you are, and I read Jane Eyre and thought it was great.The book has so many themes to it, its not just about love, or money, or whatever- a lot of things are touched on.The main character is someone you'll never forget, just as I write this I'm mentally going over the book and I have that warm feeling in my stomach, thats how I know its a great book, so read it..... and keep me updated!

A Great Read: Compelling and Entertaining
Just to correct some other comments, the present book is only "Jane Eyre." It is not a collection of books by the Bronte sisters as implied in the spotlight comments above.

This is a great read. I bought this Oxford Classic after reading some very negative comments by Virginia Woolf in her polemic "A Room of One's Own." There she thought that Charlotte Bronte had gone overboard mixing fiction with her own conservative views of feminism. So, I was eager to see how bad this book was.

This is a great read and I read the book almost non-stop for two days. It is hard to put down. This was Charlotte Bronte's first successful book and it is her best. I am reading her next book written after "Jane Eyre", "Shirley," and it is not as clearly structured. The present book is similar in some ways to that great classic "Madame Bovary" in that it is compact, concise, and consists of a well formulated plot; and, it has one strong central protagonist. It is a clear and compelling read. By the way, the character is almost the complete opposite of Madame Bovary in terms of morals.

One can quibble about parts of the story since it relies to some extent on coincidence and luck. Those parts lack realism.

The book was attacked by Christians at the time of publication almost 160 years ago and later by feminists. But that is secondary.

This Oxford version has a good analysis. It has a biography of Charlotte Bronte and comments on her sisters. The Oxford introduction by Sally Shuttleworth places the book in histrical context. Also, extra notes are included on the text. I read the comments after reading the book, and the less you know about the plot before reading the book better off you will be.

This is simply a great read.

Three Brilliant Bronte Masterpieces In One Edition - Worth Its Weight In Gold!
Three authors who greatly influenced the direction of the English novel also happened to be sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte. Charlotte's "Jane Eyre," Emily's "Wuthering Heights, and Anne's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," extraordinary novels all, comprise this Oxford University Press edition. The people, events and settings which marked these young women's lives, as well as their vivid imaginations, impacted their writing significantly.

Charlotte Brontë consciously tried to achieve financial success from the family's literary efforts. She wanted to make her living as a writer, and her goals were the most professional of the three. Her novel "Jane Eyre," a dark gothic romance, is the story of a governess and her passionate love for her Byronic employer, Mr. Rochester. It is ranked among the great English novels. There are many recurring themes here, some of which are repeated in other works by Charlotte Bronte: relationships between men and women and their different roles and limitations in society; relations between social classes; religion and morality; the need to fulfill the desires of others versus the necessity to maintain one's personal integrity; the conflict between reason and passion, and, of course, Jane's deep need to love and be loved. However, primary to the tale is the magnificent, complex character of Jane herself.

Long before the women's suffrage movement, Miss Bronte created, in the character of Jane, an intelligent, independent, strong-willed female, determined to make her place in the world. Equality between the sexes is not brought up in the novel, neither legally nor politically. What the persona of Jane addresses here is obvious in the following very famous lines: "Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags. It is thoughtless to condemn them, or laugh at them, if they seek to do more or learn more than custom has pronounced necessary for their sex."

Emily Bronte is said, by many literary critics, to be the undisputed genius of the family. An uncompromising, enigmatic, almost reclusive personality, she produced only one novel and a few poems, yet she is ranked among the giants of English literature. "Wuthering Heights," her masterpiece, is the wild, passionate story of the intense love between Catherine Earnshaw, another intelligent, independent, strong-willed heroine, and the gypsy-like foundling Heathcliff. This novel, however, is much more than a love story. "Wuthering Heights" is about hatred, cruelty, delusion, frustrated yearning, deep despair and vengeance. At times its very darkness is depressing and painful. Yet love and faithfulness, which endure beyond death, bring hope and much needed light to this tale; as does a second love story, born from the seeds of the first. The author also addresses the issues of social class here. Emily's powerful prose, its very beauty and energy, make the book such a literary classic. Charlotte published "A Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell" in 1850, in which she explained the morbidity of Emily's work by referring to the "horror of great darkness" in her life.

Of the three extraordinarily gifted Brontë sisters, Anne has been judged the least talented. I say, look at her competition, and her short lifespan. I also think her novel "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall," about a young woman's marriage to a dissipated, villainous rake, is brilliant. Some of the behavior described in the narrative is apparently taken from events which Anne witnessed when she worked as a governess. She openly stated that in "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" she, "wished to tell the truth, for truth always conveys its own moral to those who are able to receive it." This well written, extraordinary tale can most definitely hold its own against the works of her sisters, and those of other noted authors of the period. Both "Agnes Grey" and "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" have been wildly praised for their realism and integrity.

All three girls were born in Thornton, England in the early 1800s. Their father Patrick, was a poor Anglican clergyman. He and his wife had six children. The two oldest daughters, Maria and Elizabeth died before reaching adulthood. Their brother Patrick Branwell, was just a year older than Emily. Shortly after Anne's birth their father accepted a position in Haworth, located within the Yorkshire moors, a wide, wild, vast, uninhabited wilderness which was to have a major effect on all three women's writing. Emily loved walking the moorlands with her dogs, so much so, in fact, that she became desperately unhappy when away from home. She was extremely introspective, and preferred the outdoors to the company of her peers. Thus she made few friends. Her intensity of character is evident in "Wuthering Heights."

When Mrs. Bronte died, soon after reaching Haworth, the children were cared for by their maternal aunt. Charlotte and Emily were sent to Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge in Lancashire but they returned within a year. The treatment at Cowan Bridge was very harsh, and Charlotte later modeled Lowood School, ("Jane Eyre"), after it. "The food was poor and insufficient and they were treated with inhuman severity." The two oldest sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, actually died as a result of the conditions and the sickness contracted there. Charlotte's fiction is full of motherless and orphaned heroines whose loneliness is frequently the driving force behind their search for a place of belonging

For the next several years, the Bronte children were taught at home. They were extremely inventive and creative with their games and imaginary stories. Charlotte attended Miss Wooler's school at Roe Head for one year in 1831, then returned home and taught her sisters. She went back to the Wooler's school to teach in 1835, but after bouts of depression and poor health, she resigned from her position. Again, Charlotte draws material from this experience to use in Jane Eyre.

Charlotte, Emily and Jane collaborated on a book of poems, published at their own expense, entitled "Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell." The pseudonyms were chosen to match the first letter of their names. In 1847 Anne's "Agnes Grey" and Emily's "Wuthering Heights" were published together in three volumes. Although her first novel, "The Professor" was rejected, Charlotte's "Jane Eyre: An Autobiography" was an immediate success. Oddly, Currer Bell was identified as the editor rather than the author. The subtitle was dropped in subsequent editions.The popularity of the Bronte novels allowed Anne's "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" to be published shortly thereafter. The sisters' identity as authors was at first unknown, even to their publishers. It was not until after the publication of Charlotte's "Shirley" in 1849 that the truth was made public. By the date of this last publication, the Bronte's family life was to be tragically destroyed.

Branwell Bronte, an unstable man with a history of alcohol and opium use died in September 1848. Emily then fell ill and died of tuberculosis December 19, 1848. Anne soon followed, contracting tuberculosis that same year and dying May 28, 1949. Charlotte continued to live virtually alone at Haworth. The three sisters are almost as famous for their short, tragic lives as for their novels.

Charlotte published "Villette" in 1853. During this period, Charlotte also accepted an offer of marriage from her father's curate Arthur Bell Nicholls and on June 29, 1854, she and Nicholls were wed. She became quite ill with toxemia during pregnancy, complicated by the Brontë susceptibility to tuberculosis. She died March 31, 1855. Her first novel "The Professor "was published posthumously in 1857, and a fragment from an unfinished work entitled "Emma" was published in 1860.

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte were writers destined to have a tremendous impact on English literature. I cannot recommend their novels highly enough.
JANA ... Read more

Book Description
Cambridge Literature is a series of literary texts edited for study by students aged 14-18 in English-speaking classrooms. It will include novels, poetry, short stories, essays, travel-writing and other non-fiction. The series will be extensive and open-ended and will provide school students with a range of edited texts taken from a wide geographical spread. It will include writing in English from various genres and differing times.Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is edited by Susan Cockcroft of Mackworth College, Derby.Download Description
Orphaned into the household of her Aunt Reed at Gateshead, subject to the cruel regime at Lowood charity school, Jane Eyre none the less emerges unbroken in spirit and integrity. How she takes up the post of governess at Thornfield Hall, meets and loves Mr Rochester and discovers the impediment to their lawful marriage are elements in a story that transcends melodrama to portray a woman's passionate search for a wider and richer life than that traditionally accorded to her sex in Victorian society. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (592)

Bravo, Jane!
A classic for a reason. EVERY woman should read this book! Jane's strength of character and respect for herself is an example to all. Bravo, Jane!

Great Content. A Bit Too Lengthy.
Charlotte Bronte discusses one the most important issues we face today in our society--namely a girl's struggle to be loved but also to be socially and mentally independent. Jane Eyre is a lonely, miserable child, who finally becomes a happy, satisfied wife. She does so only after struggling and suffering as a child and later as a young woman. Although the content is very interesting for most, I believe that Bronte could have fitted it in 280 instead of 480 pages.

Jane initially maintains her romantic relationships superficial since, according to her, they will result in her lack of independence. Jane's romances with Rochester and St. John are not essentially based on true love, and thus, do not flourish. Rochester is interested in Jane because of her intelligence and piano skills; however, Jane believes that the great social differences between her and Rochester make her unworthy of this relation. A marriage would mean abiding by a husband's orders and the household's chores, which definitely is not her connotation of love. Jane's undeveloped romantic relationships fortify her desire for independence and romance simultaneously.

Only by becoming socially and economically equal to Rochester does Jane finally seek a deep, lasting romantic relationship, fulfilling Bronte's assertion that a rational balance between emotions and desires is required to become happy. Jane's acquaintance with her cousins provides her the emotional support she seeks throughout the novel. An added support is Jane's inheritance of her wealthy uncle, which makes her not only socially but also economically equal to Rochester. Now that Jane is economically, socially, and emotionally autonomous, she can accept Rochester's proposal.

In Jane Eyre, Jane discovers the secret of having a happy life through rationally balancing her desires for independence and her emotions towards Rochester and St. John. Nowadays, many young women struggle to achieve this balance. Therefore, I greatly encourage any who face that same problem to read this book. Maybe you will find your solution in one of the pages.

touching
I am inspired by Jane's reslove to stick to what she believes in, even when it is the most difficult thing to possibly do. this book is beautiful.

Well written classic
I really enjoyed this book, much to my surprise!I could not help comparing it to Wuthering Heights by the author's sister, which is a completely unbelieveable, dark novel.Jane Eyre is a much more positive, believeable book, although it does have its moments.Jane comes across as a very stable, intelligent woman who has to compensate for being plain in appearance and poor in resources by her wit and hard work. She falls in love with her employer, Mr. Rochester, who ultimately begins to love Jane for her good qualities and wit.Their love is interrupted by a blast from Rochester's past and Jane is morally compelled to leave him until the problem is resolved.

Despite the familiar romance forumula of the book, Jane's sense of dignity and morality paired with her plain appearance contribute a different bent to the novel that makes it stand out from the usual novel of this type.I found myself cheering her on.I think you will, too.

A Relatable Heroine (Finally!)
When Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre in 1847, she was forced by the ideals of the time to publish it under a man's name: Currer Bell. However, the novel's accurate depiction of a woman on a quest of self-discovery and love would correctly identify the author as a woman herself. In it, the title character leaves her childhood school to serve as governess at Thornfield Park, where she falls in love with her master, Mr. Rochester. However, the discovery of his insane wife makes it impossible to be with him, and Jane must leave to gain her own independence before the two can be reunited. This exquisitely written novel is truly a classic, but don't let that be a deterrent: Bronte's style remains consistently readable and lucid throughout. Add this to the effortless relatability of the title character, and we have a completely compelling novel on our hands. Throughout her master work, Bronte uses literary techniques like characterization, appeals to pathos, and theme to make Jane and her story highly relatable to nearly all girls and women.

From the outset of the novel, the reader is given a very good idea of Jane and her character. In fact, the main traits mentioned by Bronte in the narrative are what make Jane so immediately relatable to the audience (which, by merit of its basic plot as a 19th century gothic romance, would logically be made of older girls and women of all ages that would find it intriguing). Jane, from the beginning, describes herself as, "poor, obscure, plain, and little" (272). These descriptors are reinforced throughout the novel as Jane and others describe her in terms of wealth, popularity, looks, and stature; as Jane has very little of all four of these things, she is often looked down upon by herself and others. Very rarely are fictional heroines depicted in such terms; add this to the fact that Jane has a heart of gold and Bronte has given us one of fiction's most relatable characters. Even if the reader is not poor, obscure, plain, or little, they have felt that they were each of these things at least once in their lifetime. Because Jane is so far from the ideal, the reader, as another person very far from the ideal, automatically relates to and invests in the story of Jane Eyre.

Charlotte Bronte also makes Jane incredibly relatable though her usage of appeals to pathos. She makes these appeals from the outset of the novel, when Jane is sent from her relation in order to live at Lowood School, a strict institution that treats the students there terribly. Here she feels lonely and suffers lashings for offenses as quizzical as not standing when a teacher enters the room. It is when Jane starts teaching at the school that we get one of the most relatable appeals to pathos. Jane narrates, "I desired liberty; for liberty I gasped; for liberty I uttered a prayer; it seemed scattered on the wind faintly blowing. I abandoned it and framed a humbler supplication. For change, stimulus. That petition, too, seemed swept off into vague space." (88). There isn't a person in the world hasn't longed for some sort of freedom for a change in their life only to find it not forthcoming. Jane's desire for something new and the ability to do what she wants rather than what others want her to do is relatable on all levels of life -from a girl's elementary school years to her advanced womanhood.

These appeals to pathos are also apparent in regard to Jane's love for her employer, Mr. Rochester: she believes it is unrequited for the first half of the novel and then, when he reveals that he shares her feelings, discovers that he already has a wife, insane though still very much alive. Jane's moral standards make it impossible for them to be together, and so for a large portion of the text Jane has lost her love and her dearest friend. Bronte writes, from Jane's perspective, "It shivered in my heart, like a suffering child in a cold cradle: sickness and anguish had seized it; it could not seek Mr. Rochester's arms--it could not derive warmth from his breast. Oh, never more could it turn to him; for faith was blighted--confidence destroyed! Mr. Rochester was not to me what he had been, for he was not what I had thought him" (319). Throughout this passage and many others in the text, Bronte creates a sense of loss, specifically of a loved one; this is also an emotion which can be considered relatable on all levels of the board, because every woman or girl has lost a loved one, be it romantic or platonic, and this awareness of commonality between the reader and Bronte's Jane is the obvious result of appeals to pathos made throughout the novel.

Finally, the theme of the novel is perhaps what makes it most relatable: Jane Eyre is, essentially, a woman's quest to be loved on her own terms. Only when Rochester's wife has died in a house fire and Jane has achieved her own economic and emotional independence do the two marry and be together. In essence, Jane completely succeeds at her quest. "Reader, I married him. A quiet wedding we had: he and I, the parson and the clerk, were alone present" (488). In their previous engagement before the discovery of Rochester's wife, he had sought to bedeck her with jewels and expensive fabrics, and he had been proud and arrogant in her love for him. It is different and far more agreeable to Jane now that he spurns the luxuries and arrogance that were once so integral to his happiness. Far more than that, the last chapter focuses on Jane's happiness with her marriage, which is in direct, though welcome opposition to previous chapters, in which her struggles, sacrifices, and hardships are chronicled. Jane, who had been a loveless orphan, now has a husband, children, and familial ties; similarly, each girl or woman who reads this fantastic story wishes for each of these things. Jane's desire to be loved on her own terms is a direct reflection of the readers; the theme Bronte creates from this--a quest to be loved--sustains Jane Eyre's relatability to modern readers.

This marvelously crafted novel is truly a classic which remains highly readable in both style and plotline. Additionally, Bronte assured its immortality when she made the main character, Jane Eyre, such a relatable character. Using characterization, appeals to pathos, and theme, Bronte created one of fiction's most relatable characters. I would highly recommend this to girls and woman passed the age of ten; it truly is

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Customer Reviews (1)

A fabulous work of scholarship
Patsy Stoneman has painstakingly investigated how the Brontes' works(specifically Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights) have been perceived andtransformed over time.The research she's done is remarkable.Sheinvestigates the implications in each film, stage, or musical version.Shealso dips a bit into how the Brontes themselves have been perceived overtime--this part of the book could be expanded.I also think a similiarwork investigating the works of Branwell and Anne Bronte is needed. ... Read more

Book Description
A reprint of the 1965 edition of this study of the evolution of Emily Bronte's famous novel through her poetical writings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Makes no sense!!
I really enjoyed reading this book (it was a good exercise in my vocabulary!), but it made no sense!!How can a gypsy boy be soulmates with a young patrician girl?Why doesn't he succeed?What is Bronte trying totell us?Frankly, I was frustrated trying to decipher the meaning of thisnovel.I was required to read it for an English course, and I would notread it again because it is so frustrating!

A book so far ahead of its time-not just a romance!
This book is so very dark,Emily sure chose the moors as a suitable place for so much heavy brooding and deep-seated violence. I feel she was ahead of her time as the first classic tale of child abuse and domestic violence.That the children and women in this tale have no recourse for justice,thatother characters are content to sit back and watch the unfolding tragediesis a reflection,not only of her society,but of our own today. I loved it!Her imagery is enough to let you feel the cold,cruel wind and thebitter,twisted hearts that do as they must. The violence is perpetuated aswe see,down through the generations. Still,the blame must lay with the oldMr.Earnshaw. Wish Emily had enlightened us a little more about hisrelationship with his wife,whether he beat her,too or simply the children.God forbid that children were raised like that as a common day occurrence!

This book sucked.I was made to read and never will again.
I think this book should be burned.It sucked

The book is a boring, complicated, and exageratedlove story.
The book is about a juicy love story between many people.Catherine's love to every member of the male gender is ridiculous.The characters' relations to each other are undefined.There are too many narrator shiftsin the middle of the story.If you like romance (this one doesn't get tospecific about the relationships), then this is the book for you.But ifyou like action and something that progresses fast, you probably won't likethe book. ... Read more