Aurora Leigh: Book 7 Summary & Analysis

Continuing her conversation with Aurora, Marian thinks there’s no point thinking too much about Lady Waldemar’s motives, which are like the roots to nettles. Marian eventually got taken in by a miller’s wife for a few months. The miller’s wife had an easy life, being beautiful and having a loyal lover in addition to her husband. But one day, her mood suddenly changed as she accused Marian of being “disreputable” because she was pregnant. She kicked Marian out. Aurora interrupts to point out that the woman had her own moral issues if she was keeping a lover, but Marian just says that people measure things in different ways, similar to the difference between measuring gold and meal.

Marian went on to live with a kind seamstress who allowed Marian to sew with the other girls. After his birth, her son became the new focus of her life. Aurora is moved by all of this and invites Marian and her baby to join her on her trip to Italy. Marian doesn’t answer with words but instead holds out her son for Aurora to kiss, showing her trust in Aurora. And so, she accepts Aurora’s offer to come to Italy.

As Aurora prepares to go on to Italy, she thinks back to the day when Romney proposed to her. She thinks that if she had just accepted, she might have created a “nobler poem” than her own efforts at poetry, helping to save Romney and to prevent Marian’s misfortunes. She weeps due to how weary she feels.

Aurora decides she’ll write to Lord Howe that Marian is alive in Paris and has a child. She asks Lord Howe to convey to Romney only that Marian is alive and safe with Aurora. Aurora then begins a new letter to Lady Waldemar, where she writes that she’s glad she never liked Lady Waldemar. She says she knows Lady Waldemar is evil but she won’t say anything to reveal it, for Romney’s sake. She hopes that Romney’s inheritance is enough to make up for Lady Waldemar selling her soul. Writing the letter is cathartic for Aurora.

The next day, Aurora, Marian, and her son all take a train toward Italy. They pass through several French cities, reaching Marseilles and taking an overnight ship to Italy. Aurora can’t sleep on the ship, waiting for her first glimpse of Italy. They reach Genoa around daybreak, and seeing Italy immediately reminds Aurora of her father.

Aurora finds a house in Florence for them all to stay at. They spend several quiet, peaceful weeks there. Eventually, Aurora receives a letter from Vincent Carrington. He writes that he sent the money from the sold manuscript to her in Paris and was surprised to get no reply at all. He tells her that the book has done surprisingly well, with critics who ignored her work in the past now talking about it. Vincent himself read the book about two weeks ago and loves it. He mentions that he will be married in a month to Kate Ward, a woman whose eyes he loves to paint. Kate has learned many of Aurora’s poems by heart, and Vincent encourages Aurora to write back for her sake, if not for his.

Aurora is surprised by what Vincent Carrington wrote about her book’s success. She supposes the book was not as poor as she initially thought and might even have some truth in it. She knows that people like Romney look down on the artistic talents of women, and yet, she feels that truth is natural and difficult to deny. She marvels at how humans have the ability to be moved by nature in a way that a bird or a horse doesn’t, believing that even the most commonplace bush is full of God. Aurora feels that good art is more than just imitation and contains something essentially human, which in turn makes it part of God’s work.

The hot weather of Italy is getting to Aurora, suggesting that her mother’s Italian blood alone is not enough to protect her from it. She decides to write back and briefly congratulate Vincent on his marriage to Kate. She wonders again about Romney and his decision to marry Lady Waldemar, but she decides that everyone sees by the light of the same sun, and so his view of Lady Waldemar is about as good as anyone’s.

Aurora marvels at the human capacity to reason, how humanity came up with the concept of humans and of seemingly simple concepts like circles and squares that other animals don’t have any concept of. Time passes in Italy, and summer becomes fall. Aurora likes to watch the animals and insects, feeling a sense of fellowship. One day, she rides back toward the house in the mountains where she used to live with her father. But as she approaches, she can tell the house is different and doesn’t want to have to confront the fact that her father is gone, so she turns around and rides back.

One evening near sunset, when Aurora is out walking on a bridge, she thinks she sees Sir Blaise. He seems to recognize her but hurries away and she does the same. Seeing him forces Aurora to think of England again, and from that day on, she struggles with writing her poetry.