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Description
This programme deals with the conditions under which Emily Bronte wrote and with the influence that her way of life had on her writings. For many years Mrs. Gaskell's picture of Emily as a total re...cluse, anti social and imprisoned within herself, influenced and, to some extent, distorted the reactions of those who read ' Wuthering; Heights' . This prograane is intended to direct the viewers' attention to some of the contradictions between what Mrs. Gaskell and Charlotte Bronte wrote about Emily, and what Emily (and Anne) wrote, and may have thought. Emily Bronte seems to have lived her life on a great variety of levels. Her home life, and the Parsonage itself, were important to her. She was deeply attached to the moors near Haworth. But practical details of place and time are transformed and heightened when she employs them in her work. In this programme, the landscape at Malham Tarn, near Settle, about 30 miles from Haworth. In studying Emily's life, there is little alternative to using, even where you cannot wholly rely on, the testimony of Charlotte Bronte and Mrs. Gaskell. But in seeking insights into her character and her life as a writer there are other sources: first, her poems and the diary papers, which form a record of her personal development. Then Wuthering Heights, which shows her as an artist, in command. The Parsonage itself is also a source of information of course, with its small rooms, stone floors, echoing passageways, set on the edge of the moors and not in the middle of them, with easy access to and many contacts with the industrialised areas of Haworth, which developed quickly during the years when the Brontes lived there.
This programme deals with the conditions under which Emily Bronte wrote and with the influence that her way of life had on her writings. For many years Mrs. Gaskell's picture of Emily as a total re...cluse, anti social and imprisoned within herself, influenced and, to some extent, distorted the reactions of those who read ' Wuthering; Heights' . This prograane is intended to direct the viewers' attention to some of the contradictions between what Mrs. Gaskell and Charlotte Bronte wrote about Emily, and what Emily (and Anne) wrote, and may have thought. Emily Bronte seems to have lived her life on a great variety of levels. Her home life, and the Parsonage itself, were important to her. She was deeply attached to the moors near Haworth. But practical details of place and time are transformed and heightened when she employs them in her work. In this programme, the landscape at Malham Tarn, near Settle, about 30 miles from Haworth. In studying Emily's life, there is little alternative to using, even where you cannot wholly rely on, the testimony of Charlotte Bronte and Mrs. Gaskell. But in seeking insights into her character and her life as a writer there are other sources: first, her poems and the diary papers, which form a record of her personal development. Then Wuthering Heights, which shows her as an artist, in command. The Parsonage itself is also a source of information of course, with its small rooms, stone floors, echoing passageways, set on the edge of the moors and not in the middle of them, with easy access to and many contacts with the industrialised areas of Haworth, which developed quickly during the years when the Brontes lived there.
| Module code and title: | A302, The nineteenth century novel and its legacy |
|---|---|
| Item code: | A302; 02 |
| First transmission date: | 21-02-1973 |
| Published: | 1973 |
| Rights Statement: | |
| Restrictions on use: | |
| Duration: | 00:23:36 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | John Selwyn Gilbert |
| Contributor: | Graham Holderness |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Parsonage; Wuthering Heights |
| Footage description: | Long quotation from poem by Emily Bronte 'There is a spot', mid-barren hills', read over shots of moors and Haworth Parsonage. Graham Holderness comments before a further quotation is read out. Shot of portrait of Emily Bronte. Graham Holderness discusses the difference between the subjective poems of Emily Bronte and the Gondal poems. A quotation from 'Wuthering Heights' is read over shots of domestic items in the Haworth Parsonage. Graham Holderness discusses the passage and links the fictional with a historical character. Emily Bronte's use of her experience in the writing of 'Wuthering Heights' is assessed. Portraits of Bronte senior and Charlotte. Graham Holderness describes the life of the sisters at Haworth with the help of quotations from the biography of Emily by Gaskell and the sisters' diaries. Shots af Haworth Parsonage and portrait of Elizabeth Gaskell. Song 'The wind doth blow today my love' sung. Graham Holderness contrasts the view of Emily Bronte as presented by Charlotte Bronte and Mrs. Gaskell, with what we know of Emily Bronte from her own writings and the testimony of others. Graham Holderness goes on to consider how Emily Bronte was able to write of strong experience from a life which seems to us to have been rather narrow and restricted. Short quotations from 'Wuthering Heights' are read. The sequence begins with a poem 'I've seen this dell in July's shine' sequence continues beyond sound cue. |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/70800 |
| Production number: | 00525_3002 |
| Videofinder number: | 616 |
| Available to public: | no |
