Poems of Solitude by Emily Brontë

Poems of Solitude Reviews

• 
  Steven Godin

  
  Cold in the earth—and the deep snow
  above thee,
  Far, far, removed, cold in the dreary grave!
  Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
  Severed at last by Time’s all-severing wave?
  
  Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer
  hover
  Over the mountains, on that northern shore,
  Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves
  cover
  Thy noble heart for ever, ever more?
  
  Cold in the earth—and fifteen wild Decembers,
  From those brown hills, have melted into spring:
  Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers
  After such years of change and suffering!
  
  Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,
  While the world’s tide is bearing me along;
  Other desires and other hopes beset me,
  Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!
  
  No later light has lightened up my heaven,
  NO second morn has ever shone for me;
  All my life’s bliss from thy dear life was given,
  All my life’s bliss is in the grave with thee.
  
• 
  Andy Hickman

  ‘Poems of Solitude’ includes some of her best.
  e.g.
  .
  O Dream, where art thou now?
  Long years have past away
  Since last, from off thine angel brow
  I saw the light decay.
  
  Alas, alas for me
  Thou wert so bright and fair,
  I could not think thy memory
  Would yield me nought but care!
  
  The sun-beam and the storm,
  The summer-eve divine,
  The silent night of solemn calm,
  The full moon's cloudless shine,
  
  Were once entwined with thee,
  But now with weary pain,
  Lost vision! 'tis enough for me —
  Thou canst not shine again.
  …
  
  No coward soul is mine
  No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere
  I see Heaven's glories shine
  And Faith shines equal arming me from Fear
  
  O God within my breast
  Almighty ever-present Deity
  Life, that in me hast rest,
  As I Undying Life, have power in Thee
  
  Vain are the thousand creeds
  That move men's hearts, unutterably vain,
  Worthless as withered weeds
  Or idlest froth amid the boundless main
  
  To waken doubt in one
  Holding so fast by thy infinity,
  So surely anchored on
  The steadfast rock of Immortality.
  
  With wide-embracing love
  Thy spirit animates eternal years
  Pervades and broods above,
  Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates and rears
  
  Though earth and moon were gone
  And suns and universes ceased to be
  And Thou wert left alone
  Every Existence would exist in thee
  
  There is not room for Death
  Nor atom that his might could render void
  Since thou art Being and Breath
  And what thou art may never be destroyed.
  ..
  
  And like myself lone, wholly lone,
  It sees the day's long sunshine glow;
  And like myself it makes its moan
  In unexhausted woe.
  
  Give we the hills our equal prayer:
  Earth's breezy hills and heaven's blue sea;
  We ask for nothing further here
  But our own hearts and liberty.
  
  Ah! could my hand unlock its chain,
  How gladly would I watch it soar,
  And ne'er regret and ne'er complain
  To see its shining eyes no more.
  
  But let me think that if to-day
  It pines in cold captivity,
  To-morrow both shall soar away,
  Eternally, entirely Free.
  …
  
  Month after month, year after year,
  My harp has poured a dreary strain;
  At length a livelier note shall cheer,
  And pleasure tune its chords again.
  
  What though the stars and fair moonlight
  Are quenched in morning dull and grey?
  They are but tokens of the night,
  And this , my soul, is day.
  ..
  
  Cold in the earth—and the deep snow
  above thee,
  Far, far, removed, cold in the dreary grave!
  Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee,
  Severed at last by Time’s all-severing wave?
  
  Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer
  hover
  Over the mountains, on that northern shore,
  Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves
  cover
  Thy noble heart for ever, ever more?
  
  Cold in the earth—and fifteen wild Decembers,
  From those brown hills, have melted into spring:
  Faithful, indeed, is the spirit that remembers
  After such years of change and suffering!
  
  Sweet Love of youth, forgive, if I forget thee,
  While the world’s tide is bearing me along;
  Other desires and other hopes beset me,
  Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong!
  
  No later light has lightened up my heaven,
  NO second morn has ever shone for me;
  All my life’s bliss from thy dear life was given,
  All my life’s bliss is in the grave with thee.
  
• 
  Kika

  [4.5 stars]
• 
  Joanne

  Some poems are good. They read like a concentrated dose of Wuthering Heights scenery description.
• 
  Jasmine Chan

  Great wisdom at such young age and excellent play with words.
• 
  Kendall McClain

  She gets it
• 
  Marleenmoris

  Wat een mooie gedichten.