A prime candidate for Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was just as famous for her relationship with Robert Browning as for her work. Breaking through in a field that had previously been dominated by men, she was mentioned on terms equal with contemporaries like her husband and William Wordsworth. In fairness, Elizabeth Browning was never in particularly good health as an adult and would die of an unidentified illness just eleven years after Tennyson's appointment. Though hampered by poor health, personal tragedies, and conflict with her father, she battled through to create a body of work that is still widely read today. Invigorated by bright emotions as well as social awareness, Browning's work is thoughtful and mature. The famed series of poems included in this book were written to her husband, Robert Browning.