Chaucer. Shakespeare. Milton. The Brontë sisters. They are all authors who helped usher in new periods in English literature. For Chaucer it was Middle English, for Shakespeare the Elizabethan period, for Milton the Commonwealth period and for the Brontë sisters it was Romanticism and the Gothic novel (Gottlieb). Although Gothic novels were written before any of the Brontë sisters' works were published, they changed the Gothic style and made it more mainstream. For this reason Charlotte, Emily and, to a lesser extent, Anne Brontë are known as the mothers of the modern Gothic novel. Although a variety of factors shaped the Brontë sisters' writing style, perhaps the most important influence was that of their upbringing and the times in which they lived. There were six children in the Brontë family, five girls: Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte, Emily and Anne, as well as a boy named Patrick Branwell. Not long after the birth of her youngest daughter, Anne, the children's mother died, leaving them to be raised on the Yorkshire moors by their father, the Reverend Patrick Brontë (Parton). Fortunately, the children's mother's unmarried sister, Elizabeth Branwell, soon moved in with the Brontës to help take care of them and the house (Sellar). Thanks to their aunt's kindness, the Brontë children not only had a caring father, but also a surrogate mother. Being a poor minister, Patrick Brontë's main focus for his children was education. He knew that his five daughters would not be afforded many opportunities if they were not properly educated. For this reason he sent his four eldest daughters to a boarding school not far from their home. Not long after their time at boarding school M...... middle of paper ......oncept.Works CitedAlexander, Christine. Charlotte Brontë at Roe Head. By Charlotte Brontë. Jane Eyre. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Norton & Company, 1987. 407-427. Print.Davies, Stevie. Introduction. By Anne Brontë. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. London, England: Penguin, 1996. vii-xxix. Print.Eddy, Steve. The Brontës: a beginner's guide. London, England: Hodder & Stoughton, 2003. 1-79. Print.Gottlieb, Stephen. "Periods of English Literature". January 12, 2000. Web. February 3, 2010..Parton, James. "The Brontë Sisters." Female ancestors. Network. February 3, 2010. .Sellars, Jane. Charlotte Bronte. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, Inc., 1997. 9-112. Print.Sherry, Norman. Charlotte and Emily Brontë. New York, NY: Arco Publishing Company, 1970. 9-138. Press.