Remembrance – Emily Bronte - 1845

1. Remembrance – Emily Bronte - 1845

2. How is the theme of LOSS presented in Bronte’s poem?

3. 1818 –1848. She moved her the family to the parsonage at Haworth - her father was rector. She was born the middle one of the three famous sisters (Charlotte and Anne). She also had a brother, Branwell. The family lived an isolated life on the Yorkshire moors – private and reclusive. This isolation, the closeness of the sisters and their brother, and the wild beauty of their surroundings influenced and inspired them. They lived immensely imaginative lives, creating the fantasy worlds Gondal and Angria for which they wrote stories and poems. “Remembrance” is one of these poems. The sisters were hampered by the social conventions of the time that effectively restricted their opportunities. For example, the sisters were all forced to assume male pen names in order to have their work published. Arguably Bronte’s greatest achievement, “Wuthering Heights” was published one year before her death – she never knew of its success. The poem Remembrance is an extract of Emily and Anne Bronte’s Gondalsaga. A male character, known as Julius Brenzaida, the emperor of the kingdom of Gondal, dies at the battlefield and the poem Remembrance is the song sung by his wife Augusta, fifteen years after his death to affirm her deep love. 

4. Cold in the earth—and the deep snow piled 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 forever, 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. But, when the days of golden dreams had perished, And even Despair was powerless to destroy, Then did I learn how existence could be cherished, Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy. Then did I check the tears of useless passion— Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine; Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten Down to that tomb already more than mine. And, even yet, I dare not let it languish, Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain; Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish, How could I seek the empty world again? Remembrance – Emily Bronte

5. The speaker opens the poem by describing her lover's grave that lies cold in the earth. Some time has passed since his death, so the speaker begins to reflect on her memory of him and wonders if time has totally depleted the love she felt. She then asks her "Sweet Love of youth" to forgive her if she forgets him, because the world's tide is always bringing new desires and hopes. At the same time she's never felt another love like his and all of her "life's bliss" is therefore in the grave with him. As more time passes, the speaker realizes that despair has not destroyed her completely and that existence can be strengthened and cherished "without the aid of joy." At this point she's "checked her tears of useless passion" and refuses to "hasten down to that tomb" with her lover. She won't indulge in memory's pain too much because doing so would be like seeking that empty world again without her lover. AO 1 – Overview

6. What do the mix of exclamative and interrogative sentence moods suggest about the speaker’s state of mind? How does Bronte use caesura in these opening stanzas? Cold in the earth—and the deep snow piled 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 forever, ever more? Explore the meter in the opening phrase – what type of foot is used? What effect does it create? Identify the various pronouns in the two stanzas. What do they tell us about the speaker? What is suggested by the phrase “noble heart”?

7. What is the effect of the refrain in stanza three? How are the changing seasons used as a symbol in stanza three? 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! What does the syndetic pair of abstract nouns tell us about the speaker? How does the speaker distance herself from the addressee in stanza four? Consider the rhyme scheme… what effect does it create?

8. What is the effect of the anaphora in stanza five? Why does the speaker use imagery relating to light in stanza five? 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. But, when the days of golden dreams had perished, And even Despair was powerless to destroy, Then did I learn how existence could be cherished, Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy. How does the speaker’s tone change in stanza six? Look at the rhyme pattern in stanza six. How do the words contrast each other? What is the effect of this contrast? What is the significance of the inverted syntax in line three of stanza six?

9. What does the pre-modifying adjective “useless”? What is the significance of the speaker’s diction in “weaned”? Then did I check the tears of useless passion— Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine; Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten Down to that tomb already more than mine. And, even yet, I dare not let it languish, Dare not indulge in memory's rapturous pain; Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish, How could I seek the empty world again? How has the speaker’s use of caesura changed in these final stanzas? What is the significance of this change? What does the oxymoron in stanza eight tell us about the speaker’s state of mind? Why does the speaker end with a rhetorical interrogative?

10. Does Bronte’s poem have any significance for a young person today? A couple points to think about: A lot of repetition is used in the poem. What effect does it have? What does it emphasise in the poem? The poet uses questions to good effect. Write out the questions that the poet poses in the poem. We will all eventually experience or suffer a loss of some kind in our lives. We are therefore able to relate to the speaker’s emotions portrayed in the poem. How do you get over the death of a loved one? Is it possible to forget? Is it better to have loved and lost than never loved at all?