Last weekend I made one of my frequent pilgrimages to the home of my beloved Brontë sisters. As this year is the 200th anniversary of Emily's birth I decided that I would go in search of Emily Brontë. At first I was a little disappointed because I felt the exhibition hadn't focused on her enough but then when I came home and looked over my photographs Emily was there throughout in the quiet, retiring way she always was. This blog looks at some of those photographs and goes in search of Emily Brontë.
I started the search in the front garden of the Brontë Parsonage, walking where Emily often walked, chatting to her sisters. A little time should always be spent here before walking up the steps and into their home. I always feel a tingle as I enter the Parsonage as though I expect one of the sisters to appear and talk to me. Oh how wonderful that would be, to travel in time and find out what they were really like. I have so many questions.
Once inside you turn right and enter Rev Brontë's study. Here one of the most prominent things is
Emily's piano. Emily was by far and away the most musically talented of the sisters and played this piano often. I would love to hear how it sounded. It was played at the Parsonage in 2010 following some restoration work. I'm rather sad I missed it.
From Rev. Brontë's study you cross to the sitting room opposite. Here you find the table at which
Emily wrote Wuthering Heights and around which the sisters would pace nightly. reading their stories to each other.
To the right of the table is the disputed sofa. Disputed in that some people claim that this is the sofa upon which Emily breathed her last breath. Whether this is true or not I cannot say but I always feel sad when I look at it. Emily had refused to see a doctor for her consumption until the day she died, regarding them all as 'quacks' She died about two o'clock in the afternoon and being a person who rose daily despite her illness she could well have been on the sofa, as Mary Robinson said. The discrepancy comes because Charlotte refers to Keeper lying at the side of his mistress's deathbed. I choose to accept the sofa could have been made up as a day bed. You may accept whatever version you choose. We will never know.
The next room you enter is the kitchen. In here Emily would help the servants peel potatoes and
bake bread. (this photo was taken last September during Branwell's bicentenary year) I love the fact that Emily was so down to earth and grounded to the extent that, when a well loved servant grew older and sicker, she stepped in to ease her burden.
For this year Emily's Christening mug has been moved to the kitchen display cabinet. I love this mug, I love its simplicity. It reflects Emily's personality so well.
From the kitchen you move opposite to Rev Nicholl's study. For this, Emily's bicentenary year a very special manuscript is on display here. For some time people have been taking turns to write a line of a Wuthering Heights to complete a copy of the novel. I am a little sad that my visits have never coincided with the hour when this was taking place.
From Arthur Bell Nicholl's study you come out and climb the stairs. Over the staircase is a copy of a
portrait by Branwell Brontë of his three sisters, sadly with himself painted out. I always feel it is the spirits of the sisters watching over their old home. I also feel that their expression disapproves of the strangers walking through - yet I still go.
The first room upstairs where I feel a connection with Emily Brontë is the children's playroom, where they made up their stories and wrote their mini books as children.
The room is somewhat smaller than it was when the Brontë children played there as the right hand wall has been moved inwards by later residents, still this was where Emily played and the imagination that produced her wonderful novel was fed.
Passing through a recreation of Branwell Brontë's studio you reach a room filled with treasures. In display cases are such things as a sampler completed by Emily in March 1829;
Emily's mahogany artist box;
Then your heart breaks as you see one of the mourning cards sent by Charlotte following Emily's death at such a very young age by today's standards
This year as you descend the stairs to the special exhibition area there are many more memories of Emily, both possessions and artwork
This is a sketch of a mullioned window, the earliest known sketch by Emily then aged 10, 19th January 1829
Then there is a tin box used by Emily to hide her diary papers. Viewing this made me think of the scene in To Walk Invisible where Emily comes downstairs so angry that someone has tampered with her things.
Next comes a diary paper of Emily's mixing fact and fiction, writing about the coronation of Queen Victoria and a similar event in Gondal
In the following cabinet is a toy lion played with by Emily and her brother and sisters as children
This is a wonderful sketch of a fir tree by Emily, probably drawn from nature circa 1842
Here are the three sisters' author signatures, this I found really exciting - this was the beginning of the publication of those wonderful novels.
In the next cabinet, wonderfully preserved are a pair of stockings, hair tongs and comb used by Emily Brontë.
In the final cabinet is an unfinished sketch of St Simeon Stylites by Emily Brontë, 4th March 1833.
So as you see I spent a day with far more memories of Emily Brontë than I could have imagined and, looking back over that Saturday, I feel closer to her than ever.
This time I wanted to remember Emily as she was, hardworking, artistic and strong so I omitted a trip to St Michael and All Angels but next time, as is usual, I shall go to pay my respects. I may even take her some heather.
