RPO -- Emily Jane Brontë : Shall earth no more inspire thee

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Emily Jane Brontë (1818-1848)

Shall earth no more inspire thee

1Shall earth no more inspire thee,

2 Thou lonely dreamer, now?

3Since passion may not fire thee,

4 Shall nature cease to bow?

5Thy mind is ever moving

6 In regions dark to thee;

7Recall its useless roving;

8 Come back, and dwell with me.

9I know my mountain-breezes

10 Enchant and soothe thee still,

11I know my sunshine pleases,

12 Despite thy wayward will.

13When day with evening blending,

14 Sinks from the summer sky,

15I've seen thy spirit bending

16 In fond idolatry.

17I've watched thee every hour;

18 I know my mighty sway:

19I know my magic power

20 To drive thy griefs away.

21Few hearts to mortals given,

22 On earth so wildly pine;

23Yet few would ask a heaven

24 More like this earth than thine.

25Then let my winds caress thee;

26 Thy comrade let me be:

27Since nought beside can bless thee,

28 Return---and dwell with me.

Notes

1] Charlotte Brontë, Emily's sister, wrote the following note for the poem:

'The following little piece has no title; but in it the Genius of a solitary region seems to address his wandering and wayward votary, and to recall within his influence the proud mind which rebelled at times even against what it most loved.'

The speaker of the poem appears to be nature, or at least a small part of nature, personified.

Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Original text: The Complete Poems of Emily Jane Brontë, ed. Clement Shorter, collected by C. W. Hatfield (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1923): 41-42. PR 4172 A1 1923 Robarts Library
RPO poem editor: Marc R. Plamondon
RP edition: 2005
Recent editing: 2:2005/6/7

Form: quatrains
Rhyme: abab

Other poems by Emily Jane Brontë