"The thought of what I have undertaken weighs upon me": early writing and the decision to marry -- "Sumner ought to have been a woman": learning to live in a triangulated marriage -- "The internal fire that consumes": the 1840s, motherhood, and the necessity of writing -- "Between extremes distraught and rent": the second trip to Rome and the seeds of Passion-flowers -- "Ye shall listen now": Passion-flowers and the poetics of defiance -- "Down the bitter river she dropped": Words for the hour and The world's own.