Fifth Grade
Worksheets
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne: The Bronte Sisters
Caption: The Brontë sisters, painted around 1834. From left to right, they are Anne, Emily, and Charlotte
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte are some of the best known English writers of all time. They have the distinction of each being known individually as the author of classic fiction and also of being known together as the subjects of a very interesting biography. The lives of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne are often seen as similar to the lives of the characters they wrote about.
Elizabeth Gaskell, a friend of the Bronte sisters, wrote their biography and that is how the world has come to know about the lives of these three sisters and writers. Her portrait of the Brontes shows three girls who grew up on the wild and isolated moors. They spent most of their time together, having little opportunity to play with other children. Each girl went away to school for a few years, but all three seemed to prefer the solitude of their father's parsonage that they continued to call home at various times throughout their lives.
The girls' one passion was writing. As children, they wrote stories in a miniscule handwriting in tiny paper books. Later they produced a book of poems under the pseudonyms of Currer, Acton, and Ellis Bell. Their book of poetry sold only two copies, but that did not deter the girls from writing. Instead, each girl returned to writing her own novel.
