英国诗人罗伯特·布朗宁（1812-1889）和妻子伊丽莎白·巴雷特·布朗宁（1806-1861）是19世纪中叶英国诗坛的明星夫妇，他们传奇式的爱情故事一直被传为佳话。
1845年1月10日，在读完伊丽莎白·巴雷特的诗集之后，罗伯特·布朗宁第一次给她写信。当时的他只是一个名不见经传的33岁诗人和剧作家，而她已是一位知名诗人，但同时也是一名39岁的病弱者。“我全心全意地热爱你的诗句，亲爱的巴雷特小姐——确实是这样，就像我所说的，我真心实意地爱着这些诗句，”信中这样写道。在接下来的20个月里，他们相互通信近六百封。这些书信被视为有史以来最优秀的文学书信。他们的爱情一直持续到伊丽莎白·巴雷特·布朗宁去世，其间更诞生了众多美丽的诗歌——
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was the daughter of Mary Graham Clarke and Edward Moulton Barrett, a very wealthy landowner who owned sugar 1)plantations in Jamaica. Her mother died when Elizabeth was just 22, after having given birth to 12 children. Although Elizabeth, the eldest, was probably her father's favorite child, she struggled under his 2)tyrannical parenting. Incredibly controlling, Mr. Barrett insisted that none of his children marry, 3)baffling even the family's closest friends.
伊丽莎白·巴雷特·布朗宁是玛丽·格雷厄姆·克拉克和爱德华·莫尔顿·巴雷特的女儿。巴雷特是一位有钱的地主，在牙买加拥有自己的糖料农场。母亲在生下12个孩子后去世了，当时伊丽莎白只有22岁。作为长女的伊丽莎白也许是父亲最喜欢的孩子，但她仍然要忍受其暴君式的管教。巴雷特先生的控制欲异常强烈，他不准子女结婚，甚至与最亲密的朋友断绝联系。
To add to her difficulties, from the time she was a teenager, Elizabeth suffered from a mysterious illness that caused her to be 4)frail and weak, unable to leave her house. In fact, she rarely left her room, and believed that she was destined to forever remain a sickly 5)shut-in and 6)spinster. When Robert Browning first began to 7)court Barrett—through their 8)correspondence— she seemed to enjoy the relationship, but was unwilling to believe that he could really be interested in her.
雪上加霜的是，从少年时期开始，伊丽莎白就染上一种怪病。这种病使她非常虚弱，无法走出家门。实际上，她很少离开自己的房间，她认定自己这辈子注定要成为一个卧病在床的老处女。当罗伯特·布朗宁刚开始通过书信追求巴雷特的时候，她似乎很享受这种关系，但始终不相信布朗宁真的对自己有兴趣。
Robert Browning, the son of Robert and Sarah Anna Browning, was a direct and 9)ardent suitor. But despite his obvious 10)affection and the 11)mutual admiration displayed in their letters, Elizabeth refused to see him until the spring—months after their first contact—as the cold weather of the winter made her health poor. The couple's first meeting occurred in May 1845, after five months of regular correspondence. It is believed that Browning wrote to Barrett immediately afterward to declare his affection, but this letter has not survived. Elizabeth, sickly and so long in 12)isolation, found it difficult to trust his intentions. Despite the obstacles, Browning's visits continued, though always when Elizabeth's father was not at home.
罗伯特·布朗宁是罗伯特与莎拉·安娜·布朗宁的儿子。他是一位直接而又热情的追求者。尽管在两人的信中他表达出明显的爱意，双方也互相欣赏，但一直到春天之前——冬天的天气使她的健康状况变差——伊丽莎白一直拒绝跟他见面，这距离他们初次接触已经有数个月。两人在1845年5月第一次见面，这是在他们进行通信往来五个月之后。据说布朗宁随后马上给巴雷特写信表白，但这封信没能保存下来。身患疾病并长期与世隔绝的伊丽莎白很难相信他是出于真心。即使阻碍重重，布朗宁仍然继续拜访伊丽莎白，不过一般是趁她父亲不在家的时候。
In the summer of 1845, Barrett's doctor recommended that she travel to Pisa, in Italy, for the winter because he felt sure that she would not survive another harsh season in London. Her father, for unknown reasons, refused to allow the trip. After writing to Browning about her 13)predicament, he wrote back, saying, “I would marry you now.” Instead of 14)dismissing him as she had done before, she embraced his 15)sentiments. They continued to see each other regularly, and, thanks to an unseasonably warm winter, Barrett's health began to improve. In January 1846, Elizabeth took a major step toward recovery by leaving the room where she had spent the last six years of her life.
1845年夏天，巴雷特的医生建议她到意大利的比萨去过冬，因为他确信伊丽莎白无法再一次熬过伦敦严酷的冬天。不知道出于什么原因，她的父亲拒绝让她出行。她写信向布朗宁倾诉自己的困境，他回信道：“我现在就和你结婚。”不同于以往的拒绝推托，伊丽莎白这次欣然接受了他的提议。他们继续如常见面。多亏那年出现了反常的暖冬，巴雷特的健康开始好转。1846年1月，伊丽莎白在康复过程中迈出了一大步——她终于离开了生活了六年的房间。
By May 1846, Barrett began to walk outside and, in her letters, 16)credited Browning for having a large part in her recovery. By summer, she was living a much more active life. On September 12th, Barrett and Browning were married. The wedding was held in secret. Although she was then 40 years old, Barrett lived in fear of her father's wrath if he found out that she was disobeying his order not to marry. When her 17)deception was revealed, she was 18)disinherited by her father.
到了1846年5月，巴雷特开始出外走动。在信中，她把康复的主要功劳归功于布朗宁。到了夏天，她的生活更为活跃。9月12日，巴雷特和布朗宁结为夫妇，婚礼是秘密进行的。虽然她当时已经40岁，但巴雷特还是很害怕父亲一旦发现自己没有服从他的命令而结了婚会大发雷霆。得知真相后，她的父亲剥夺了她的继承权。
Just a week after their marriage, the Brownings left London for Italy, where they would spend the next 15 years of their lives. Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) was written during their courtship and early marriage and is about her dramatic romance with Browning, and how he helped her save herself from a life of sickness and isolation.
结婚一周后，布朗宁夫妇就离开伦敦前往意大利，并在那里生活了15年。巴雷特·布朗宁的《葡语十四行诗集》（1850年）创作于两人相恋及结婚初期，讲述的正是她和布朗宁之间的传奇爱情，以及布朗宁是如何把她从疾病和孤独当中拯救出来的。
In Italy, both poets would enjoy many productive years of writing, as well as the birth of their son, Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning, in 1849. She completed a second edition of Poems, as well as Casa Guidi Windows (1851), Poems before Congress (1860), and her well known 19)verse-novel, Aurora Leigh (1856). He published Men and Women (1855), which was 20)dedicated to his wife and is considered to contain his best poetry. They remained in Italy for 15 years, until Elizabeth died in her husband's arms on June 29th, 1861.
在意大利，两位诗人都迎来了持续多年的创作多产期，他们的儿子罗伯特·威德曼·巴雷特·布朗宁也在1849年降生。伊丽莎白完成了《诗篇》的第二版、《加萨古伊迪之窗》（1851年）、《议会前的诗篇》（1860年），以及著名的诗体小说《奥罗拉·利》（1856年）。罗伯特则发表了献给妻子的《男人与女人》（1855年），该诗集被认为包含了布朗宁最优秀的诗篇。他们在意大利生活了15年，一直到1861年6月29日伊丽莎白在丈夫的怀中去世。
Nowadays, Casa Guidi, the Brownings' home in Florence, Italy, has been preserved and is open to visitors.
今天，布朗宁夫妇在意大利佛罗伦萨的故居——加萨古伊迪被保留了下来，并对公众开放。
