Three days with the Brontes

The Bronte's Early Years

Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte were born in Yorkshire, England and spent most of their lives in the village of Haworth, which is now part of the sprawling industrial city of Bradford. The three girls were born less than four years apart, Charlotte in 1816, Emily in 1818, and Anne in 1820. Their only brother Branwell was born between Charlotte and Emily, and two older girls completed Patrick and Maria Bronte’s family of six children. Patrick would outlive his wife and all six of his children.

Patrick Bronte, a Church of England (Anglican) clergyman had been born in Ireland. His surname was originally Brunty but he changed it to honor the naval hero, Lord Nelson, who had been made Duke of Bronte (Sicily) in 1802. Patrick was a brilliant young man from a humble background. He was fortunate to be helped by men from a higher social stratum and he was educated at Cambridge University, where he studied to become a minister.

Patrick’s wife Maria was English. Tragically she would die in 1821 when her children were still young. A few years after her death, the two oldest daughters of the family, Maria and Elizabeth passed away due to tuberculosis, a common disease of the 19th century. Patrick was left to raise his four remaining children with the help of Maria’s sister. He never remarried.

The Brontes differed from the other residents of Haworth. Most of the people in the area worked in the textile industry, many having looms in their own homes, with everyone participating in weaving. Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution was burgeoning and mills were being built all over northern England – in time the region would become the world’s leader in fabric production and come to heavily depend on cotton from the American South. The Bronte children were exposed to literature and art

and they all had some years of private education. Most of the other children in the area would have had little or no schooling at all. Although the Brontes left home to attend private schools off and on (Emily would leave due to homesickness and spend most of the rest of her life sequestered in the rectory), they remained extremely close, becoming each other’s best friends.

After reading the passage “The Brontes Early Years”, answer the questions below:

1. What information did you find in the passage that you expected to learn before beginning to read? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

2. List three things you learned from the passage that you did not already know about the Brontes: _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

3. In the first paragraph, what information about the Brontes is provided as a way of introducing the reader to their background? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

4. What is the main idea of the fourth paragraph? What is the purpose of this paragraph? _____________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

5. The passage is a biographical text. Do you believe it is mostly fact or mostly opinion? Why? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

??

Language Use:

In the spaces below, provide a synonym for each of these words from the passage:

sprawling ______________ differed ______________ clergyman _____________ burgeoning ____________ stratum ______________ region _______________

help (noun) ____________ sequestered ____________