Emily Bronte, born July 30, 1818. She's is my favorite writer as author of Wuthering Heights,which is my favorite Gothic Romance. Her poetry is wonderful as well. Suffice it to say, she was a literary genius. A very petite literary genius.
According to the Norton Anthology, Literature by Women: The Traditions in English, Second Edition (1996) Gilbert and Gubar, the carpenter who made her coffin had never made such a small one for an adult. It was five feet six inches in length and sixteen inches in width. I'm sure she was a little larger before becoming ill and wasting away with consumption, but she still would have been petite in my opinion. As far as I know consumption doesn't reduce height. She was a shy person, only comfortable at home and felt most liberated walking among the heather on the moors. I can relate to that! Gilbert and Gubar also state that she stubbornly got up and dressed the day she died and refused to see a doctor. I don't blame her as the doctor probably couldn't do anything but stick leeches on her anyway in those days.
Even though she died at the young age of 30, with the encouragement and posthumous promotion of her sister Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre), she made such a huge contribution to the world with her passionate prose and poetry. I for one am eternally grateful.
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