Most Devoted Love

The Romance of Two Poets

Poets Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning eloped on September 12, 1846.

At this time Barrett was a well-known and respected poet who had also published literacy criticism and Greek translations as well as poetry. Her first volume of poems “The Seraphim and Other Poems” came out in 1838. This was followed by “Poems by Elizabeth Barrett” in 1844.

She was born in Durham, England in 1806 in a family with wealth and position. Unfortunately, she was reclusive in her youth because she suffered from weak lungs and retreated even more when her beloved brother died in 1940. Her poetry was very well received and she had the chance to meet Wordsworth and other renowned poets of that time.

Robert Browning was the son of a bank clerk and was educated at the University of London. He continued his education at the home of his parents where he read extensively and wrote poetry. Unfortunately, his early poetic work was criticized until he discovered dramatic monologues and included that in his poetry writing “Dramatic Lyrics” in 1842. It was not received well but Elizabeth Barrett defended it and Browning thanked her for this in writing and wanted to meet her.

At first, Barrett was unsure about meeting Browning but once she did they both fell in love. Barrett’s father took a dislike to Browning regarding him as a fortune seeker. Therefore both poets kept their courtship a secret. Finally, while Barrett’s family was away she snuck out of the house and met Browning at St. Marylebone Parish Church where they got married. They kept the marriage a secret and Barrett returned to her home for a week finally fleeing with Browning to Italy. She never saw her father again.

The Brownings lived happily for fifteen years in Italy. During this time his wife’s weak health improved and the couple had a son in 1849. In 1850 Elizabeth published her best-known work “Sonnets From the Portuguese”. These sonnets chronicled the courtship and marriage of the couple. Her blank-verse novel “Aurora” became a bestseller in 1857.

During her lifetime Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s reputation as a poet overshadowed that of her husband. She died in her husband’s arms in 1861 and Browning returned to England with their son. There he became an avid socialite. He published “The Ring and the Book”, a 12-volume poem about a real 17th-century murder trial in Rome in 1868. Browning died in 1889.

Love Forever

Edna St. Vincent Millay was a well-known poet and playwright in New York City. In 1923 she met Eugen Boissevain a businessman, poet, and feminist. Even though they had known each other only a few weeks Millay willingly accepted Boissevain’s marriage proposal. As it turned out Boissevain took on all the necessary duties so that his wife could continue to write.

He traveled around the world with Millay and did all he could for her. His love for her went so far as to even accept her relationship with her lover, George Dillon in 1928. When she suffered a nervous breakdown he remained devoted to her especially since she wasn’t able to write. They remained together for twenty-six years and it was only Boissenvain’s death in 1949 that parted them. Millay followed him to the world beyond a year later. So even though their love was not perfect it was a true love that kept them together through sunny and stormy weather.

A Combination of Food and Love

Paul Child met Julia while they were both stationed in Ceylon during WW II. They were members of the Office of Strategic Services. They got married in 1946 after they returned to the U.S. As amazing as it might seem, if you know how popular Julia Child became with her cooking, is that at that time Paul realized that she didn’t really know how to cook. She had grown up in a household that had a chef. Once Julia started cooking she discovered that she really enjoyed it. So her husband took her to France so she could learn French cuisine.

Soon husband and wife became partners and at the beginning of her cooking career Paul took photos that were converted into sketches for her early cookbooks. His support and great admiration for his wife have been well-documented. The couple became inseparable. Together they hosted dinner parties and planned the menus while Julia did the cooking, Paul chopped the vegetables, set the table, poured the wine, and did all the serving. Truly a couple that shared a great love Paul also proofread and edited his wife’s cookbooks. He also enjoyed writing poetry with his main inspiration being Julia.

They were true soul mates and on her 33rd birthday this is the poem Paul wrote for her:

Birthday, 1945

How like autumn's warmth is Julia's face,

So filled with nature's bounty, nature's worth,

And how like summer's heat is her embrace

Wherein, at last, she melts my frozen earth.

Endowed, the awakened fields abound 

With newly green effulgence, smiling flowers,

Then all the lovely riches of the ground

Spring up, responsive to her magic powers.

Sweet friendship, like the harvest cycle, moves

From scattered seed to final ripened grain

Which, glowing in the warmth

of autumn, proves 

The richness of the soil, and mankind's gain.

I cast this heaped abundance at your feet:

An offering to summer and her heat.