Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 2, 1806 to Edward Moulton-Barrett and Mary Graham. Edward was an heir to plantations in Jamaica and Mary was the daughter of a wealthy merchant. The family (including all twelve Barrett children) resided in Hope End, a new mansion in Herefordshire, England. At the early age of eight, Elizabeth wrote On the Cruelty of Forcement to Man. When her brother became outraged, Elizabeth successfully convinced her father to let her join her brother's Greek and Latin lessons. At the age of fourteen she wrote her first story, The Battle of Marathon, an epic in twelve books, which was privately printed in fifty copies. From an early age, Elizabeth was interested in writing, and learning. She read the works of Stendhal and Mary Wollsencraft, whose feminist writings influenced Elizabeth's life and work. Her family encouraged her in her chosen occupation as a poet, and Elizabeth herself wanted public recognition for her writing. 

Despite Elizabeth's education and interest in an intellectual life, she was not highly exposed to the outside world. At the age of fifteen, Elizabeth and her sisters fell ill. All except Elizabeth, who worsened, recovered quickly. It is not certain what caused her condition, but a lack of exercise and the severity of her treatment exacerbated her illness. It was at this time that Elizabeth was first prescribed opium. Though she lacked the sign of a severe opium addict, she formed a dependency on the drug. Elizabeth was to use her illness as a reason for her reclusive lifestyle. She exercised little and conducted most of her friendships through letters. In fact, it was through her letter writing that she became acquainted with Robert Browning. Eventually, Robert came to visit once a week, despite the fact that Elizabeth feared opposition from her father over the lower social status of Robert's family. Furthermore, she also feared that she did not have the strength to openly resist her fathers refusal. Love soon prevailed, however, and on September 12, 1846, Elizabeth (aged 40) and Robert were secretly married and left for Italy one week later. 

The Brownings eventually settled in Florence at Casa Guidi, where at the age of forty-three Elizabeth bore her first son. During this time she also published a volume of poems that included The Cry of Children and Lady Geraldine's Courtship. These poems were so highly regarded, that in 1850 Elizabeth Barrett Browning was recommended as the successor to Wordsworth as poet laureate of England. Other works include Sonnets from the Portuguese, generally hailed as her best and Casa Guidi Windows, which expressed her sympathy for the unification of Italy. Aura Leigh, her longest and most ambitious work, is a romantic poem in which Elizabeth addresses the plight of the female artist and a woman's right to intellectual freedom. Elizabeth died a year after the fifth edition of Aurora Leigh was published and she was buried in the Protestant cemetery in Florence. In 1862, Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Last Poems was published posthumously.

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