She was born at Cohnadatia Hall (now demolished) near Durham, England in 1806, the daughter of Creole plantation owner Edward Barrett, who assumed the last name on succeeding to the estates of his grandfather in Jamaica. She was christened in Kelloe church, where a plaque describes her as 'a great poetess, a noble woman, a devoted wife'. Her mother was Mary Graham-Clarke of a wealthy Newcastle family. She spent her youth at Hope End, near Great Malvern. While still a child she showed her gift, and her father published 50 copies of a juvenile epic, on the Battle of Marathon. She was educated at home, but owed her profound knowledge of Greek and much mental stimulus to her early friendship with the blind scholar, Hugh Stuart Boyd, who was a neighbour. In her early teens, Elizabeth contracted a lung complaint, possibly tuberculosis, although the exact nature has been the subject of much speculation, and was treated as an invalid by her parents. For a girl of that time, she was well-educated, having been allowed to attend lessons with her brother's tutor. She published her first poem, anonymously, at the age of fourteen. In 1826 she published anonymously An Essay on Mind and Other Poems.

Shortly afterwards, the abolition of slavery (of which he had been a disinterested supporter) considerably reduced Mr. Barrett's means. He accordingly disposed of his estate and removed with his family first to Sidmouth and afterwards to London. At the former Miss Barrett wrote Prometheus Bound (1835). After her removal to London she fell into delicate health, her lungs being threatened. This did not, however, interfere with her literary labours, and she contributed to various periodicals "The Romaunt of Margaret", "The Romaunt of the Page", "The Poet's Vow", and other pieces. In 1838 appeared The Seraphim and Other Poems (including "Cowper's Grave"). Shortly thereafter, the death of her favorite brother gave a serious shock to her already fragile health; and for a time she hovered between life and death. Eventually, however, she regained strength, and meanwhile her fame was growing. The publishing about 1841 of "The Cry of the Children" gave it a great impulse, and about the same time she contributed some critical papers in prose to R.H. Horne's New Spirit of the Age. In 1844 she published two volumes of Poems, which comprised "The Drama of Exile", "Vision of Poets", and "Lady Geraldine's Courtship". In 1845 she met for the first time her future husband, Robert Browning. Their courtship and marriage, owing to her delicate health and the extraordinary objections entertained by Mr. Barrett to the marriage of any of his children, were carried out under somewhat peculiar and romantic circumstances. After a private marriage and a secret departure from her home, she accompanied her husband to Italy, which became her home almost continuously until her death, and with the political aspirations of which she and her husband both thoroughly identified themselves. The union proved one of unalloyed happiness to both, though it was never forgiven by Mr. Barrett. In her new circumstances her strength greatly increased. The Brownings settled in Florence, and there she wrote Casa Guidi Windows (1851) - by many considered her strongest work - under the inspiration of the Tuscan struggle for liberty. Aurora Leigh, her largest, and perhaps the most popular of her longer poems, appeared in 1856. In 1850 The Sonnets from the Portuguese - the history of her own love-story, thinly disguised by its title - had appeared. In 1860 she issued a collected edition of her poems under the title, Poems before Congress. Soon thereafter her health underwent a change for the worse; she gradually lost strength, and died on June 29, 1861. She is buried in Florence in the English Cemetery, Florence.

Browning is generally considered the greatest of English poetesses. Her works are full of tender and delicate, but also of strong and deep, thought. Her own sufferings, combined with her moral and intellectual strength, made her the champion of the suffering and oppressed wherever she found them. Her gift was essentially lyrical, though much of her work was not so in form. Her weak points are the lack of compression, an occasional somewhat obtrusive mannerism, and frequent failure both in metre and rhyme. Though not nearly the equal of her husband in force of intellect and the higher qualities of the poet, her works had, as might be expected on a comparison of their respective subjects and styles, a much earlier and wider acceptance with the general public. Mrs. Browning was a woman of singular nobility and charm, and though not beautiful, was remarkably attractive. Mary Russell Mitford thus describes her as a young woman: "A slight, delicate figure, with a shower of dark curls falling on each side of a most expressive face; large, tender eyes, richly fringed by dark eyelashes, and a smile like a sunbeam." Anne Thackery described her as: "Very small and brown" with big, exotic eyes and an overgenerous mouth.

Her most famous work is Sonnets from the Portuguese, a collection of love sonnets written by Browning but disguised as a translation. By far the most famous poem from this collection, with one of the most famous opening lines in the English language, is number 43: