woensdag 17 februari 2010

The Brontë Society

The Brontë Society (founded 1893), whose museum started in one room over the Pennybank, was given the parsonage in 1927 and transferred there the next year, which also saw the arrival of Henry Houston Bonnell's collection of Brontëana from Philadelphia. The Society's annual periodical, Transactions, contains the first printing of many Brontë documents. Its comprehensive guide to the house, which has been restored to resemble the Brontë home, contains a short history of the family. A leaflet lists the places which influenced their work, including a favourite walk to the Brontë waterfall, Ponden Hall (setting of Thrushcross Grange), and High or Top Withens (ruins), the possible site of Wuthering Heights. Elizabeth Gaskell, who visited in 1853, contrasted the bleak aspect of the house outside with the ‘snugness and comfort’ of the interior. She walked on the moor with Charlotte, who told her stories of the families there which made her think Wuthering Heights tame in comparison.

Matthew Arnold's poem ‘Haworth Churchyard’, written after Charlotte's death, says in error that the grass ‘Blows from their graves to thy own’ as the Brontës (with the exception of Anne) were buried in the family vault in the church (rebuilt 1881), where a plaque marks the site. A stained‐glass window is an American tribute to Charlotte Brontë, and the Memorial Chapel has been added.

Geen opmerkingen:

Een reactie posten