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Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) was an English novelist and poet who didn’t live long enough to give the world all she could have, but she is best known as being one of the three critically acclaimed Bronte sisters, along with Anne and Emily, and all three of them wrote novels that are now considered classics of English and Western literature. Charlotte and her sisters attempted to write several different novels and stories, eventually publishing a volume of poems under male pseudonyms entitled Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Most of the poetry was Emily’s, but it didn’t get popular reviews, leading the sisters to begin novels. Of all the sisters’ works, it is Emily’s Wuthering Heights that has aged the best over time, continuing to retain its place as a classic of English literature. Anne’s Agnes Grey was written as a Volume III to be packaged with Wuthering Heights and was finished within a year of Emily’s novel. But it was Charlotte who survived the other two’s illnesses in 1848-1849, giving her nearly another decade to produce more than one novel, including The Professor and Emma. However, Charlotte’s most famous novel is Jane Eyre: An Autobiography, a coming of age story written as an autobiography by the title character. The novel mixes all of the best elements of Anne and Emily’s works by telling the story of a child’s maturation, emotions and experiences growing up, a sharp critique of society, and the Gothic romance that has made Wuthering Heights endure. The novel is often considered one of the first truly feminist portrayals, with Jane developing into a passionate, intelligent young woman who is moral and self-reliant.