A Summary and Analysis of Appendix B: Religion and Factory Reform

 In this blog I will be summarizing and analyzing three different articles about religion and factory reform focused around Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry.

Summary:

The first article I chose to look titled, "Reviews" pulled from The Guardian discusses Elizabeth Barrett Brownings religious background and the problems they find with it. The article starts by pointing out that Elizabeth is a very religious woman, and her 'intellectual idols' include her husband Robert Browning, Tennyson, and Mr. Carlyle. Next the article makes it clear that their beliefs would clearly be different from Barrett Browning if they were ever to sit down and discuss it at length. But the article ultimately concedes to Elizabeth and says, "But in the present state of religious discord and confusion, we may regret it, but teaching of which she has most likely never heard, and is deficient in doctrine which she has had no opportunity to supply (321). So in other words the article cuts her some slack because of the many varying views of the time and because they believed her to not be completely educated on the matter. The next article I examined praised Barrett Browning for bringing to life the Virgin Mary; a figure it claims that is often left out. Hannah Lawrance writes, "The Virgin Mary is to many of us little more than a name, or perchance a half-angelic face looking down from the beautiful Italian picture. We seldom think of her even as she is represented in scripture, as one for virtue and goodness highly favored among women. From this dim unreal existence Mrs. Browning has called her into life" (322). This idea they explain further giving her praise because Barrett Browning has drawn attention to a figure they claim that has suffered similar to the Saviour himself. The last article I chose to look at was titled, "From Frances Trollope, The Life and Adventure of Micheal Armstrong, The Factory Boy (London: Henry Colburn, 1844, : serial publication, 1840." This article gives a depiction of the children working in factories during the Industrial Revolution. The imagery in this excerpt is very vivid and detailed. In one part it describes a little girl having to stretch out to avoid steam burning her as she picks up stray pieces of cotton. "In the performance of this duty, the child was obliged, from time to time, to stretch itself with sudden quickness on the ground, while the hissing machinery passed over her; and when this skillfully done, and the head, body, and outstretched limbs carefully glued to repass over the dizzy head and trembling body without touching it. But accidents frequently occur..." (79-81).
The realistic portrayal leaves you horrified with the last sentence knowing that often her movement wasn't skillful enough.

Analysis:

I think that Elizabeth Barrett Browning chose to write about a religious view that was more universal in a sense, rather than focusing on Catholicism or Protestant or some other narrowed faith for a reason. She wrote about what she felt and that didn't always reflect some exact scripture of faith. In the first article the author agrees and gives credit to Elizabeth Barrett Browning for being a religious woman despite maybe a few short comings in religious education. After reading the excerpt from the serial publication I understood why Browning is famous for her political poetry; her ability to draw on your human sympathies while simultaneously making a comment on the working conditions of children is amazing. The imagery she uses is so real. I felt like I could see the sunken in cheeks of the little boys working.