Flush: A Biography

Flush: A Biography is Virginia Woolf’s innovative attempt to write a biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning from the perspective of her dog, Flush. Elizabeth (1806-1861) was one of the most celebrated English poets of the 19th century. She was born Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett and was the eldest of 12 children. The Barrett family wealth came from sugar plantations in Jamaica, though this colonial connection was a source of guilt for Elizabeth, especially as she became more attuned to the social injustices of slavery later in life. By the age of eight, she had begun reading William Shakespeare and John Milton. At 10, she wrote her first epic poem. Her father, recognizing her intelligence, provided her with a classical education, which was rare for girls of her time. From an early age, Elizabeth’s health was fragile. At 15, she developed a chronic illness—possibly tuberculosis or a related condition—and she was prescribed laudanum, an opium derivative, for pain management. This medication contributed to her lifelong battle with both physical illness and its psychological effects. Her frailty confined her to a semi-invalid state, resulting in long periods of isolation, and this is a recurring theme in her work.

In 1832, the Barrett family moved to London, and Elizabeth’s work began to receive more attention. However, just as her career began to blossom, tragedy struck. Elizabeth’s beloved brother, Edward, drowned in a sailing accident in 1840, plunging her into deep grief and exacerbating her physical ailments. Her father, an overbearing figure, became even more protective. Elizabeth was confined largely to her room in the Barrett family’s house on Wimpole Street. In 1844, Elizabeth published Poems, a collection that established her as one of the leading poets in England and caught the attention of another rising star in the literary world: Robert Browning. He was captivated by her work and wrote her a letter of admiration, initiating a correspondence that would change both of their lives. Despite Elizabeth’s fears about her health and her father’s disapproval, she and Robert married secretly in 1846. The union was kept hidden from her father, who had forbidden any of his children to marry; when he finally discovered the marriage, he disowned her. Elizabeth never saw her father again. Shortly after their marriage, the Brownings moved to Italy, settling in Florence, where the warm climate improved Elizabeth’s health. They lived happily for the rest of Elizabeth’s life.

Elizabeth’s longest and most ambitious work, Aurora Leigh (1856), is a novel in verse that addresses the role of women in society, the conflict between art and social responsibility, and the necessity of female autonomy. The work is notable for its proto-feminist themes and is often considered one of the first substantial literary works to explore the aspirations of a female artist. Woolf explores these same themes in Flush. Elizabeth was also a passionate advocate for the abolition of slavery, having inherited a sense of guilt over her family’s ties to Jamaican plantations.

Throughout her years of illness, isolation, and upheaval, Elizabeth found comfort in her beloved dog, Flush. A gift from her friend, the writer Mary Russell Mitford, Flush was a golden-haired spaniel. His presence brought her solace during the long hours she spent confined to her room in London. Flush also accompanied her to Italy when she and Robert moved there. Elizabeth wrote about Flush in a series of letters, expressing how much he meant to her. Woolf refers to these letters in Flush.

In 1849, Elizabeth gave birth to a son named Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning, whom she and Robert affectionately called “Pen.” However, by the late 1850s, Elizabeth’s health began to decline again. She continued to write and engage in political causes until her death on June 29, 1861, at the age of 55, in Florence. She was buried in the English Cemetery in Florence, where her tomb remains a place of pilgrimage for literary enthusiasts.