Chances are, if you’re a reader of romance, you’ve heard of the name Elizabeth Barrett. Or, if you haven’t heard her name, you’ve at least heard a line or two of her most famous poem. It goes a little like this:

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…”

See, I told you you’d probably heard of her (or her work).

But, as famous as her poem is, it is nothing compared to real life romance behind it.

Elizabeth Barrett was born in March 1806, the eldest of twelve children. From a young age, she displayed an aptitude for literature and words, reading novels by age six and writing her first significant poem at age seven. By age eleven, she had already achieved publication, a four-volume poem entitled The Battle of Marathon. Granted, it was privately published and done so by her father, but that gives you a peek not only of Elizabeth’s talents but also the nature of the relationship she had to her family and the supportive environment in which she was raised.

At age fifteen, she contracted a mysterious illness or possibly suffered an accident. Although history is unclear about what in particular ailed her, what is known is Elizabeth was left frail and in intense pain; she would be an invalid for her entire life. Her physical discomfort, however, did not negatively affect her writing. In fact, it has been suggested that laudanum, a strong opiate medication she took, might have enhanced her already fiercely vivid imagination. Confined to bed for many hours a day, books and poetry became Elizabeth’s lifeline. Her first adult collection of poems was published in 1838, and she wrote prolifically from 1841 to 1844, earning her mixed reviews.

Poems, a collection published in 1844, and a follow-up, A Drama of Exile: and Other Poems (1945), proved to be her big breakthrough–in more ways than one. She became an instant celebrity in both Europe and the United States, receiving letters from admirers across the continents…including one from a man named Robert Browning.

Browning himself was a writer, one whose works (like Elizabeth’s earlier attempts) had been released to mixed reviews. After a hodgepodge education, Browning anonymously published his first major work, Pauline, in 1833 to little fanfare. In 1840 he published Sordello, which was a flat-out failure. Undeterred, he tried his hand at drama, but his plays, including Strafford and the Bells and Pomegranates series, were also unsuccessful.

He was, however, a fan of Elizabeth’s.

Upon release of Poems and A Drama of Exile , Browning wrote a letter to Elizabeth–penned on this very day 180 years ago, January 10, 1845. In it, he wrote “I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett,—and this is no off-hand complimentary letter that I shall write,—whatever else, no prompt matter-of-course recognition of your genius, and there a graceful and natural end of the thing. Since the day last week when I first read your poems, I quite laugh to remember how I have been turning and turning again in my mind what I should be able to tell you of their effect upon me …”

Intrigued, Elizabeth responded. And so began an intense period of correspondence between the two poets, during which time a friendship and, eventually, a romance began to develop. Over the course of twenty months, the two exchanged five hundred and seventy-five letters.

The courtship, however, was kept in secret, due in part to the strict and overbearing nature of Elizabeth’s parents who were, naturally, concerned about their daughter’s poor health and Browning’s ability to care for her needs. The two literary lovebirds were undeterred; on September 12, 1846, they were secretly married at Marylebone Church. A few weeks later, they moved to Pisa, Italy, which the doctors had advised might be helpful to Elizabeth’s health. Elizabeth’s father was furious about the subterfuge. He and several other members of the family disowned her for the betrayal.

After spending time in Pisa, Elizabeth and Robert settled in Florence. True to the doctor’s advice, Elizabeth’s health did indeed greatly improve, and the two poets composed what would later become some of their most well-respected and widely known works, including Elizabeth’s most famous, Sonnets from the Portuguese, which was a collection of love poems written during the first few years of her marriage to Robert and includes this, her most renown:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

After many happy years together in Italy, Elizabeth became seriously ill in the summer of 1861. She passed away in Robert’s arms on June 29, 1861. According to Robert, Elizabeth’s last word was “beautiful.”

Robert returned to London with their son, who had been born in 1849. Overcome with grief, he spent most of his time alone, and he worked on preparing Elizabeth’s final work, Last Poems, for publication. Eventually, however, he resumed his own writing, publishing The Ring and the Book in 1868 and 1869. The work was immediately received with enthusiasm, and it established Robert’s reputation as a top literary figure of the era.

The two had finally both achieved literary success. But the true legacy of Elizabeth and Robert lives on through their love story, started by a series of letters, which lives on in the works their great romance inspired.