think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/to-be-forever-known-the-brontes-and-poetry/
“When we are harassed by sorrows or anxieties, or long oppressed by any powerful feelings which we must keep to ourselves, for which we can obtain and seek no sympathy from any living creature, and which yet we cannot, or will not wholly crush, we often naturally seek relief in poetry—and often find it, too—whether in the effusions of others, which seem to harmonize with our existing case, or in our own attempts to give utterance to those thoughts and feelings in strains less musical, perchance, but more appropriate, and therefore more penetrating and sympathetic, and, for the time, more soothing, or more powerful to rouse and to unburden the oppressed and swollen heart.” – Anne Brontë, Agnes Grey (1846)
The Brontës were first and foremost poets. Before their better-known careers as novelists and for the entirety of their writing lives, the Brontë sisters wrote poetry. Their first joint publication was the co-authored Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846, reissued 1848). Poems should be a key text in Brontë studies, not only because many of the poems in the volume speak to concerns developed in the Brontës’ later fiction, but because the publishing, organisation, reception, and circulation of the text sheds light on the Brontës’ preoccupations with writing, reading, and responding to poetry. The writing of poetry grows out of their shared fantasy worlds developed in childhood and stretches to verses reflecting on their own and each others’ deaths. As well as preoccupying the Brontë sisters, poetry inspired the life and work of both their father Patrick and brother Branwell. Patrick published volumes of poetry which complicate representations of him as Victorian father figure and priest. Branwell was the first of the Brontë siblings to be published in print, with Anne following him with individual poems published in local newspapers. Poetry continued to inspire the Brontë sisters throughout their lives, and their own poetry and that of others shapes their later fictional worlds.
We are seeking 500-word abstracts outlining plans for full articles with an expansive focus on one or more of the following:
- one or more of the Brontës and their engagement with specific poetic forms a d/or prosody
- the publication, organisation, reception, and circulation of Poems (1846, 1848)
- a single poem or fragment close read in relation to one or more theoretical perspectives, especially poetry which has been understudied in Brontë Studies
- poetry by Patrick and Branwell, as well as Charlotte, Emily, and Anne
- poetry by other writers which ‘harmonised’ with or otherwise inspired one or more of the Brontës
- poetry by later writers responding to one or more of the Brontës, from Matthew Arnold to Anne Carson and beyond
- creative responses to the Brontes’ poetry
We are open to critically informed revaluations of canonical Brontë poems (for example, Emily’s justly famous ‘No Coward Soul Is Mine’ from 1846) but are keen to receive submissions covering the full range of the Brontë family’s engagement with poetry writings, especially verse that has received little to no critical attention.
Submission Instructions
Please read the following instructions carefully.
To express an interest in preparing a full article for submission to this special issue, please submit a 500-word abstract to the guest editor, Dr Andrew McInnes (Andrew.McInnes@edgehill.ac.uk), and the journal’s Editor-in-Chief, Dr Claire O’Callaghan (brontestudies@bronte.org.uk) by 1 April 2026.
If accepted, contributors will be invited to submit articles of no more than 7,500 words (inclusive) by December 2026. Articles should be prepared in accordance with the journal’s Style Guide and submitted via the journal’s submission platform, accessible on the website. The special issue will be published in 2028.
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Andrew McInnes