Talk:Branwell Brontë

did he die standing up?

Did he really die standing up holding on to the mantlepiece just to prove it could be done? If so I think that deserves some mentioning in this article.

i had a search but couldn't find any confirmation. Douglas Adams has been quoted, saying that Branwell died standing up. It's a pity we can't ask him if it's true or not :-(

Elizabeth Gaskell in her biography of Charlotte mentions that Branwell struggled to sit up and died on his feet. This, according to the later biographer Juliet Barker probably came from Ellen Nussey, Charlotte's best friend. Yallery Brown 23:29, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

I edited the article to reflect that he died standing up, with a link to the page on Adams' website where he makes the claim (which can also be found in Salmon of Doubt, a collection of Adams' short stories and articles that was published posthumously). -- Hux 16:49, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

An excerpt from Elizabeth Gaskells "The Life of Charlotte Brontë" (1857) is available on and contains the relevant paragraph:

"I have heard, from one who attended Branwell in his last illness, that he resolved on standing up to die. He had repeatedly said, that as long as there was life there was strength of will to do what it chose; and when the last agony came on, he insisted on assuming the position just mentioned."

Hope this helps. :) MMad 16:08, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

I had to come to the discussion page to find the "real" story of how he died - I in fact went searching the internet after reading the Douglas Adams anecdote. I think a biography such as Gaskell's is a pretty appropriate source, while a quip by a humorist is not. Any argument that there is nothing false in Adams' description ignores the fact that the intention of his style of writing is to amuse, and mimicking that style in an encyclopedia article is ill-motivated. Especially in the case of a peculiar story like this one, I think it is important in a reference work to use a style which reflects a desire to present facts, not to be entertaining. 144.92.166.203 18:59, 24 August 2007 (UTC) Noah K.

The fuller Douglas Adams quote is as follows: {begin} "My favourite piece of information is that Branwell Brontë, brother of Emily and Charlotte, died standing up leaning against a mantelpiece, in order to prove it could be done. This is not quite true, in fact. My absolute favourite piece of information is the fact that young sloths are so inept that they frequently grab their own arms and legs instead of tree limbs, and fall out of trees." {end} My personal opinion based only upon my familiarity of Adams books, is that the line "This is not quite true, in fact" refutes the story of standing up, rather than the fact it is his favorite piece of information. Reader_Anon 10/2007

he didn't die standing up. i've added a detail about that. since there are sections about YOUTH and ADULTHOOD, i'll go ahead and split off a DEATH section. seems like that's his claim to fame is this sillydeath myth. Cramyourspam (talk) 22:54, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

I have Charlotte's letter to Ellen where she describes what happened as her father told her. I'll find it and cite it properly. I have also read in several places that Rev. Bronte himself chose to die standing, which I could well believe. Trying to face your death standing or sitting up was popular. --Bluejay Young (talk) 16:48, 8 December 2012 (UTC)

Branwell the legend

I personally think that Branwell needs more recognistion as an influence, for much of his sisters' work is based on the actions of their brother. He could well have also influenced many other people and it seems he was a fantastic man when he was living. My hat goes off to him. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 213.40.121.8 (talk) 18:50, 9 March 2007 (UTC).

• Put your hat back on and tip it to old Patrick Bronte intsead. Now there was an admirable man. That Branwell was hammered all the time meant that his influence wasn't so enjoyable - see his sister Anne's account of living with an unbearable drunk in 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall'. And his poetry was bloody awful, if we're honest. Yallery Brown 13:05, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

The Graduate

Mrs. Robinson's affair with Branwell Brontë is interestingly mirrored in the 1967 movie The Graduate, in which the young man seduced is called "Benjamin Braddock".

Apart from the pretty commonplace idea of a young man having an affair with a married woman, what are the links? We need a source showing that "Benjamin Braddock" was an intentional link to Branwell Bronte, or at least that it has been widely taken as one. Flapdragon (talk) 12:31, 2 April 2009 (UTC)

Well, the older woman in The Graduate is likewise called Mrs. Robinson. Circumstantial, yeah, but it does add some credibility to the claim.24.215.124.189 (talk) 15:24, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Would this aspect of the Branwell story have been known to the (presumably US) writer of The Graduate?Cloptonson (talk) 22:00, 29 December 2016 (UTC)

The portrait

The text of that picture of the Bronte sisters says that Branwell painted himself out. I've also read that at some point his father was angered with him and rubbed the image out with turpentine. Probably a romantic fantasy of some writer. Saxophobia (talk) 01:16, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

Miniature books by Branwell and Charlotte

The genesis of genius: Tiny books by the Brontë children suggest the unbounded creativity to come – Harvard University library preservation, digitization, and online exhibit

--namely, these nine books: "Only about 20 volumes[!] of Brontë juvenilia are known to remain. Harvard holds nine, the Brontë Museum at the family home in England owns a few, and the remaining are scattered among museums and private collectors."

--P64 (talk) 18:50, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Pronunciation of "Brontë" again

I've found a source for the pronunciation of the surname Brontë, from Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. To quote from the Explanatory Notes:

"When our research shows that an author's pronunciation of his or her name differs from common usage, the author's pronunciation is listed first, and the descriptor commonly precedes the more familiar pronunciation."

The book then goes on to list BronTEE as the author's pronunciation, but commonly pronounced by others as BronTAY.

This source is available on Google Books, so anyone can check it online. DORC (talk) 18:11, 5 February 2015 (UTC)

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Branwell Brontë/CommentsTalk:Branwell Brontë/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

. Requires addition of inline references using one of the {{Cite}} templates Requires copy edit for WP:MOS Keith D (talk) 21:12, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Last edited at 21:12, 28 April 2008 (UTC). Substituted at 10:12, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

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Juvenilia attributed to Charlotte

An IP editor brought up that part of the juvenilia list is solely attributed to Charlotte. I've started to go through the list and removed the works attributed to Charlotte (see list below). That search also led me to other works of Branwell's so I've added those to the article. Sariel Xilo (talk) 05:55, 13 June 2021 (UTC)

Juvenilia attributed to Charlotte:

• Albion and Marina
• Lily Hart
• The Green Dwarf
• The Foundling
• The Spell
• Tales of the Islanders
• Tales of Angria
  • "Caroline Vernon"
  • "Mina Laury"
  • "Stancliffe's Hotel"
  • "Henry Hastings" (Note: Charlotte wrote this novella, however, Branwell also used the name Henry Hastings as a pseudonym)
  • "The Roe Head Journal Fragments"

References

References

Hello, references 53 - 55 need to be modified to actually go to the information supported rather than the login page to All Poetry. Keith D (talk) 15:39, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

Thanks, Keith D: I'll get onto it. ArthurTheGardener (talk) 15:47, 1 March 2026 (UTC)

GA review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Branwell Brontë/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: ArthurTheGardener (talk · contribs) 18:21, 28 February 2026 (UTC)

Reviewer: Tim riley (talk · contribs) 08:50, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

Initial comments

Another Brontë from you and another review from me. As before, chez Anne, my comments are merely advisory. There is nothing I think I must or should insist on.

• A couple of minor points about formatting:

• elliptical dots should be spaced on either side ... like this.
• parenthetic dashes should be either unspaced em-dashes—like that, or spaced en-dashes – like that. Either is fine but they should not be two hyphens side by side -- like that.

• Individual comments:

• "He was given a Classical education" – why the capital letter? The OED doesn't use one for the word when used about Greece and Rome.
• "the village's water supply had been contamined" – "contaminated"?
• "While four of his five sisters were sent to Cowan Bridge" – unclear whether you mean "although" or "simultaneously".
• "provided his son with a Classical education" – as above.
• "particular interest in these paracosms" – I say! I've learnt something today.
• "He documented in encyclopaedic detail" – the current edition of Fowler steers us towards "encylopedic" rather than "encylopaedic" (and after all, we don't write for Wikipaedia).
• "his first job was as an usher at a Halifax school" – no doubt the use of "usher" to mean a junior master at a school was common in Branwell's day but it isn't now (the OED says "Now rare").
• "tutoring per day" – on the old principle "prefer good English to bad Latin" I think "a day" would be better than "per day".
• "as 'assistant clerk in charge' at Sowerby Bridge railway station" – not clear why this and his next job are in single (or any) quotation marks. .
• "he was paid £75 per annum (paid quarterly)" – another "per" I suggest would be better as a plain "a".
• "A year after Branwell's return came the news of the Reverend Robinson's death." – in good BrE you can't refer to "the Reverend Surname-only": you had better say "Edmund Robinson's death".
• "Branwell, who subsequently "declined into chronic alcoholism, opiates and debt".[2][14]" – unclear whom you are quoting here.
• "some of her correspondance with her publisher" – "correspondance" is an interchange on the Paris Métro. You mean "correspondence".
• "aggravated by delirium tremens, alcoholism, and laudanum and opium addiction" – isn't laudanum just diluted opium?
• "British novelist Robert Edric" – clunky false title that could do with a definite article in front of it.
• "in Stella Gibbons' 1932 comic novel ... In Tim Powers' novel" – From current Fowler, p. 58: "Names ending in -s: Use 's for the possessive case in names and surnames whenever possible; in other words, whenever you would tend to pronounce the possessive form of the name with an extra iz sound, e.g. Charles's brother, St James's Square, Thomas's niece, Zacharias's car".

I hope some or all of these suggestions are useful. Tim riley talk 08:50, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

Thank you, Tim riley: I'll get onto it. ArthurTheGardener (talk) 09:00, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

Hello, Tim riley, I think I've addressed all your suggestions so far: and thank you again for your help. ArthurTheGardener (talk) 09:51, 5 March 2026 (UTC)

My apologies – I failed to notice that "encyclopaedic" is in a quote, and the source certainly spells it that way. Better stick with that – sorry to shilly-shally. That apart:

Overall summary

GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

1. Is it reasonably well written?

   A. Prose quality:

   B. MoS compliance for lead, layout, words to watch, fiction, and lists:

2. Is it factually accurate and verifiable?

   A. References to sources:

   Well referenced.

   B. Citation of reliable sources where necessary:

   Well referenced.

   C. No original research:

3. Is it broad in its coverage?

   A. Major aspects:

   B. Focused:

4. Is it neutral?

   Fair representation without bias:

5. Is it stable?

   No edit wars, etc:

6. Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?

   A. Images are copyright tagged, and non-free images have fair use rationales:

   Well illustrated.

   B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions:

   Well illustrated.

7. Overall:

   Pass or Fail: