She wrote critical essays and addresses on Shakespeare, while many of her poems were set to music in the United States and in England.

[3] Living as a child in an atmosphere of books, Brotherton was trained in composition at an early age by her mother.

I was born in Cambridge, Indiana, but have passed most of my life in Cincinnati, and have never been east of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Though her specialty was poetry, she wrote considerable prose in the form of essays, reviews and children's stories.

A number of her lyrics, among which are those entitled "Rosenlied," "The Song of Fleeting Love," "The Fisher-Wife's Lullabye," "Unawares," "Boys, Keep the Colors Up," "God Knows," and "June Roses," were set to music,[5] in the U.S. and in England.