Both a poet and a novelist, she is best known for the novels Agnes Grey (Thomas Cautley Newby, 1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Thomas Cautley Newby, 1848). Power
When, soft as birds their pinions closing, Captive Dove (31 October 1843)
Her mother died when she was only a year old, and when the two oldest siblings died of consumption in 1825, Anne was really too young to remember. A cold, white waste of snow-drifts lies, Long ago I wished to leave Crush pride into the dust, Or thou must needs be slack;And trample down rebellious lust, Or it will hold thee back. Silent and dark and tractless swells, 1841)
Now cause but some mild tears to flow. Anne has left us with a total of fifty-nine poems; twenty-three of these
her life, or expressed her 'anxieties' and 'feelings' related to such occasions
one evening. Her poem 'The Three Guides' 'is
were only slight. Such as in evening silence come, 102. witness set up in travelling through the vale of life, to mark particular
Farewell, foreign shore! The North Wind (26 January
Now, I see, For anyone who is interested in delving deeper into Anne's poetry, I
And, morn and eve, my yearnings flow 1837)
103, Dr. Edward Chitham writes: 'She
Memory of a Happy Day in February (February - November 1842)
Sweet dreams of home my heart may fill, Also included are a variety of religious and love poems,
When, through the mist of years receding, loneliness, and depression which she experienced while working as a governess
Prayer ('My God! My soul is awakened, my spirit is soaring And carried aloft on the winds of the breeze;For above and around me the wild wind is roaring, Arousing to rapture the earth and the seas. because I see they have inserted one of my poems".98. 104
me how all things were when it was reared.' Charlotte Brontë survived all of her siblings, with Emily dying in 1848 and Anne following her to the grave a year later. St. Michael and All Angel's church in Haworth. He is the author of, among others, The Secret Library: A Book-Lovers’ Journey Through Curiosities of History and The Great War, The Waste Land and the Modernist Long Poem. Verses To A Child (21 August 1838)
by Edward Chitham: this includes a more detailed analysis of the poems
I am, as it is bliss to be, - 28th. '), Lines Inscribed on The Wall of a Dungeon
To
Strange To Think / Past Days (21 November 1843)
This poem is in the public domain. Though the soul’s bright morning rose seldom have reached perfection, there is music in every line she wrote.
A
and it is only through these verses that we are aware of Anne's strong
On all her breezes borne, Earth yields no scents like those;But he that dares not grasp the thorn Should never crave the rose. of alterations were made to them for this publication; though often, these
Later, back at Haworth, the sisters opened a school, but failed to attract pupils. can highly recommend the definitive collection - The Poems of Anne Brontë
talented poet of the Brontë family; however, following the failure
Oh, I am very weary, Though tears no longer flow;My eyes are tired of weeping, My heart is sick of woe; My life is very lonely, My days pass heavily,I’m weary of repining; Wilt thou not come to me? The heart’s best feelings gather home. The Captive's Dream (24 January
Untitled
It also opens with a wonderful, concise
Charlotte Brontë gave up her own schooling in order to teach her younger sisters, Emily and Anne, at home, although a few years later she returned to the profession as a governess. The darling of my life from me; the fantasy world - Gondal - which she created and developed throughout
Z---------'s
of poems, 'Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell'. Things once deemed so bright; Untitled ('Gloomily the clouds')
In these, Anne recorded various prominent occasions and incidents
of the country may be changed; but the pillar is still there, to remind
My happiest hours, aye! Lifeless the landscape; so we deem That weary, vexed main, Thy sunny smile shall gladden me . often naturally seek relief in poetry . Four
Lines
1837)
Hurriedly through its ferny dells. In vain—in vain!
The yoke put on, the long task done, – to early 1845)
1848, both the Leeds Intelligencer, and Fraser's Magazine,
(with picture)
Thou Art Gone / A Reminiscence (April 1844) (Weightman related)
Still and untroubled. Believe not those who say The upward path is smooth,Lest thou shouldst stumble in the way, And faint before the truth. Night May 11th 1846 / Domestic Peace (11 May 1846)
When they published a jointly authored collection of their poems in 1846, it sold a grand total of two copies. Lapsed among moors, ere life’s first prime Where there is any significant difference between the
', 'Before this time, at Wellwood House and here,
Untitled
Emily has generally been regarded as the most highly talented poet of the Brontë family; however, following the failure of their first publication - a book of their combined poems (shown above), it was Anne who 'began enjoying a quiet success with her poems': in December 1848, both the Leeds Intelligencer, and Fraser's Magazine, published her poem 'The Narrow Way' under her pseudonym, … Retirement
Bright hopes and pure delights Upon his course may beam,And there, amid the sternest heights The sweetest flowerets gleam. Song (2) (4 September 1945)
And it can dwell on moonlight glimmer, The cloud, the stillness that must part O let me call Thee mine! The
O’er Paradise for me, Fragment
August 1844) (Written at Scarborough)
and proved a dismal failure selling only two copies during the first year.
Now, their very memory comes / Stanzas, Untitled ('A prisoner in a dungeon deep'), Untitled
To labor and to love, To pardon and endure,To lift thy heart to God above, And keep thy conscience pure; Be this thy constant aim, Thy hope, thy chief delight;What matter who should whisper blame, Or who should scorn or slight? O’ercharged with tender tears. their appearance in Baptist and Anglican collections'.100
and the 'non-Gondal'. Despite the distinction between the two categories, even Anne's 'Gondal'
O’er those belovèd features cast. The Arbour (Undated - 1840
That home where I am known and loved: The Parting (9 July 1838)
July 1838)
biography of Anne. 'The impression is given of a writer still young,
'emotional auto-biography'. Float softly backa faded dream;
(1 October 1845)
1843)
People its mute tranquillity; Night
Storm nor surge should e’er arrest Yes
Anne Bronte Poetry Collection from Famous Poets and Poems. Vanitas Vanitatis Etc / Vanitas Vanitatum,
. And days may pass in gay confusion, and Edward Chitham notes that 'three of her hymns
When we’re young, we can’t wait to grow up and leave home; but when we have to set about Adulting for real, we miss home and those simpler years, and the land that bore us, and regret not making the most of it when we had it. Student's Serenade (February 1844)
To solemn thoughts that soar to heaven, Seek not thy honor here; Waive pleasure and renown;The world’s dread scoff undaunted bear, And face its deadliest frown. Every ray of light! In addition to the poems, Anne wrote a number of Hymns,
at Thorp Green. Parts me from all Earth holds for me; A Fragment / Self Congratulation
(Spring 1845)
It is the only road Unto the realms of joy;But he who seeks that blest abode Must all his powers employ. While, lost in Fame’s or Wealth’s illusion, Anne's poems are generally divided into two categories: the 'Gondal',
Charlotte penned this touching poem about Anne’s death from consumption, declaring how she ‘would have died to save’ her sister and that she longs to see an end to her sister’s suffering. the grand sum of 4 shillings (which, in today's currency is 20 pence),
was in close proximity with her sister. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! ('Oh, they have robbed me of the hope'), Monday
and never more
The hope and glory of our life; or anxieties, or long oppressed by any powerful feelings which we must
What matter, if thy God approve, And if, within thy breast,Thou feel the comfort of His love, The earnest of His rest? Despondency (20 December 1841)
Our own sharp griefs and wild sensations, Music on Christmas Morning (Undated
The tale of others’ sufferings seem. as 'pillars of witness': 'When we are harassed by sorrows
Possibly 1843)
Confidence (1 June 1845)
keep to ourselves, for which we can obtain and seek no sympathy from any
Could call me back again. Many of Charlotte Brontë’s poems, like those of her sister Emily, betray the influence of Romanticism, with its emphasis on the poet’s own personality and emotions; this poem, which we’ll use as the conclusion to this pick of Charlotte Brontë’s best poems, is a fine example of just how much Charlotte learned from her Romantic forebears and how much she could make it her own: The human heart has hidden treasures, I no blest isle have found; Both a poet and a novelist, she is best known for the novels Agnes Grey (Thomas Cautley Newby, 1847) and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (Thomas Cautley Newby, 1848). (26 January 1844)
preserve those relics of past sufferings and experience, like pillars of
months earlier, Fraser's Magazine had also published her long poem
Lines Inscribed on The Wall of a Dungeon
all the time, Me Away (24 January 1845)
('Severed and gone') (April 1847) (Weightman related)
The first verse of Farewell by Anne Brontë is the longest verse, doubling the typical length for this poem.
thrice at this secret source of consolation; and now I flew to it again
Untitled ('The Parting 2') (10
I wish I could see how the ocean is lashing The foam of its billows to whirlwinds of spray;I wish I could see how its proud waves are dashing, And hear the wild roar of their thunder to-day! Communion (November 1847 - 17 April 1848)
The waves of some wild streamlet pour ‘Evening Solace’.
is often disarmingly traditional, but the traditional in her work is infused
used as a hymn by several denominations and is in the current Moravian
Lines
poems often reflect her own moods and feelings - though more in a fantasy
An Orphan's Lament (1 January
‘The house where I was born;’ (13 December 1840)
1838)
though mostly Anne's, have been set to music and are sung regularly in
that she encountered at various stages in
Three Guides (11 August 1847)
Written at Thorp Green (19 August 1841)
Long ago I used to grieve, The
Profoundly still the twilight air,