“One day, in the autumn of 1845, I accidentally lighted on a MS. volume of verse in my sister Emily’s handwriting. Of course, I was not surprised, knowing that she could and did write verse: I looked it over, and something more than surprise seized me—a deep conviction that these were not common effusions, nor at all like the poetry women generally write. I thought them condensed and terse, vigorous and genuine. To my ear they had also a peculiar music—wild, melancholy, and elevating.
"My sister Emily was not a person of demonstrative character, nor one on the recesses of whose mind and feelings even those nearest and dearest to her could, with impunity, intrude unlicensed; it took hours to reconcile her to the discovery I had made, and days to persuade her that such poems merited publication. I knew, however, that a mind like hers could not be without some latent spark of honourable ambition, and refused to be discouraged in my attempts to fan that spark to flame."
Charlotte Brontë on her sister Emily , from The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell, 1857
The name of Emily Brontë quickly conjures up images of desolate Yorkshire moors, Wuthering Heights, and its tempestuous characters. Yet, when not writing, baking excellent bread and studying (often German), she was to be found communing with nature outdoors -
“...But the real life, the only beauty of the country, is set on the top of all the hills, where moor joins moor from Yorkshire into Lancashire, a coiled chain of wild, free places. …there is always a charm in the moors for hardy and solitary spirits. Between them and heaven nothing dares to interpose. The shadows of the coursing clouds alter the aspect of the place a hundred times a day. A hundred little springs and streams well in its soil, making spots of vivid greenness round their rise. A hundred birds of every kind are flying and singing there. Larks sing; cuckoos call; all the tribe of linnets and finches twitter in the bushes; plovers moan; wild ducks fly past; more melancholy than all, on stormy days, the white sea-mews cry, blown so far inland by the force of the gales that sweep irresistibly over the treeless and houseless moors. There in the spring you may take in your hands the weak, halting fledglings of the birds; rabbits and game multiply in the hollows. There in the autumn the crowds of bees, mad in the heather, send the sound of their humming down the village street. The winds, the clouds, Nature and life, must be the friends of those who would love the moors.”
A. Mary F. Robinson: ‘Emily Brontë.’ (Famous Women Series). Boston: Roberts Bros., 1883.
And so it was with Emily - she spent a great deal of time walking, running across the moors, and had, according to those who knew her best, a deep empathy with animals, and kept as many pets at Haworth as were allowed : “She would have peopled the house with pets had not Miss Branwell kept her niece’s love of animals in due subjection. Only one dog was allowed, who was admitted into the parlor at stated hours, but out of doors Emily made friends with all the beasts and birds. She would come home carrying in her hands some young bird or rabbit, and softly talking to it as she came. “Ee, Miss Emily,” the young servant would say, “one would think the bird could understand you.” “I am sure it can,” Emily would answer. “Oh, I am sure it can.””
A. Mary F. Robinson: Emily Brontë, 1883
The Canine Companion: Keeper
Among Emily's cherished pets, Keeper, a large mastiff, holds a special place. Keeper was devoted to Emily, although known for being a rather aggressive dog, but Emily had a unique bond with him.Their relationship formed the basis for Shirley and her dog Tartar in Charlotte’s novel:
“The tawny and lionlike bulk of Tartar is ever stretched beside her, his negro muzzle laid on his fore paws – straight, strong, and shapely as the limbs of an Alpine wolf. One hand of his mistress generally reposes on the loving serf’s rude head, because if she takes it away he groans and is discontented.”
Feline Friends: Tiger and Tom
‘Black ‘Tom’, the tabby, was everybody’s favourite. It received such gentle treatment it seemed to have lost cat’s nature, and subsided into luxurious amiability and contentment. The Brontës’ love of dumb creatures made them very sensitive of the treatment bestowed upon them. For any one to offend in this respect was with them an infallible bad sign, and a blot on the disposition.’
Ellen Nussey, Reminiscences of Charlotte Bronte, 1871
Cats were a significant presence in the Brontë household, and besides Tom, Emily had a particularly close bond with her own favourite, a ginger and white cat called Tiger, who would sit on her feet while she wrote.
The Parrot and the Hawk
There are also accounts of a pet parrot in the Brontë household, apparently belonging to Branwell and adding an exotic flavour to the parsonage.
Emily had a hawk, called 'Nero', which she may have rescued from a broken nest; she kept it in a cage, and it seems to be the same bird that features in one of her excellent watercolours.
Animals in Brontë’s Writing
Emily Brontë's connection with animals often seeped into her literary work - in her poetry as well as in Wuthering Heights. Dogs appear in her novel as guard dogs or lap dogs - efficient representatives of the characters they belong to. Lockwood, behaving foolishly with a couple of Heathcliff’s guard dogs, gets what he deserves when they turn on him - he is not hurt, only frightened, as Heathcliff points out to him - his fright causes him to faint, and this, along with the change in weather (to wit, a snow storm), result in his remaining the night at Thrushcross Grange - and sleep in the fateful room once occupied by Catherine. Elsewhere, lap dogs belong exclusively to the well-heeled, educated and ultimately, pampered, Lintons - here Bronte is unsparing in her treatment of the spoiled siblings (surely she knew people very like them in life!) and allows Isabella Linton full rein in setting her cap at Heathcliff, only to walk into the lion’s den where she discovers he has no feeling for her at all - to prove which, he hangs her lapdog.
Emily clearly had a close affinity to animals, yet also without sentimentality - this is illustrated by her punishment of Keeper when he wouldn’t keep off the beds - and coupled with her metaphysical , Blakean approach to her characters, helped her ultimately to craft one of the most compelling novels in English literature.
A Solitary Yet Compassionate Soul
Emily Brontë's reclusive nature and preference for the company of animals over people is a recurring theme in biographical accounts of her life. Her pets seem to have provided her with a sense of companionship and solace, allowing her to express a side of herself that she rarely showed to the outside world. This love for animals also underscored her deep empathy and sensitivity, traits that are vividly reflected in her literary work.
“Emily must have been a remnant of the Titans—great-grand-daughter of the giants who used to inhabit the earth."
Mrs. Gaskell: Life of Charlotte Brontë, 1857
Conclusion
Emily Brontë’s relationship with her pets offers a fascinating glimpse into the private life of one of literature's most mysterious figures. Her bond with animals was not just a source of comfort but also a reflection of her gentle yet fiercely independent spirit. Whether at the Brontë Parsonage, or roaming the wild Yorkshire moors, Emily found joy and companionship in the company of her beloved animals, and so we see into the heart of a very human, if brooding and reclusive, author.
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