The Barretts of Wimpole Street

Overview

The story of the relationship of famed Victorian poet Elizabeth Moulton-Barrett, first, with her possessive father, and then to the vital and vigorous Victorian poet Robert Browning, beginning with their first meeting at the Barrett home on 50 Wimpole Street on May 20, 1845; at the time, Elizabeth was a 40-year old bedridden invalid, dominated by her widowed father; when her doctor recommends a trip to Italy for her health, Browning declares his love for her, foiling her father's plan to spoil the trip by arranging one of his own by secretly marrying her and taking her to Italy after all.