‘Is Childhood Then so All-Divine?’: Representations of Childhood in the Poetry of Anne Brontë

Despite the increasing criticisms of her traditional critical and cultural reputation as “third Brontë” in recent years, underestimation Anne Brontë’s philosophical political engagement remains tenacious. This is especially relevant when it comes to serious scholarly work on poetry, where biographical and/or religious frameworks dominate. By contrast, this article interested poetic intervention into Victorian debates surrounding aesthetic conceptions child childhood. Brontë simultaneously deploys subverts traditionally Romantic imagery, interrogating mode most explicitly later poems such ‘Memory’, ‘Dreams’ ‘Z-’s Dream’. In these mature pieces, undercuts more conventional presentation topics earlier with a self-reflexive meditation authenticity nostalgic visions. Therefore, we can see childhood becoming vexed over time, mirroring realist representation novels. However, also reveals deeper conflicted identification than one might imagine writer Agnes Grey (1847) could possess, providing access complete picture position essential questions innocence, nostalgia