Quotes from The Complete Poems of Emily Bronte [with Biographical Introduction]

Emily Brontë ·  190 pages

Rating: (2.6K votes)


“Love is like the wild rose-briar; Friendship like the holly-tree. The holly is dark when the rose-briar blooms, but which will bloom most constantly?”
― Emily Brontë, quote from The Complete Poems of Emily Bronte [with Biographical Introduction]


“Riches I hold in light esteem,
And love I laugh to scorn,
And lust of fame was but a dream
That vanished with the morn.

And if I pray, the only prayer
That moves my lips for me
Is, 'Leave the heart that now I bear,
And give me liberty!'

Yes, as my swift days near their goal,
'Tis all that I implore -
In life and death, a chainless soul,
With courage to endure.”
― Emily Brontë, quote from The Complete Poems of Emily Bronte [with Biographical Introduction]


“The old church tower and garden wall
Are black with autumn rain
And dreary winds foreboding call
The darkness down again”
― Emily Brontë, quote from The Complete Poems of Emily Bronte [with Biographical Introduction]


“Evening Solace

The human heart has hidden treasures,
In secret kept, in silence sealed;­
The thoughts, the hopes, the dreams, the pleasures,
Whose charms were broken if revealed.
And days may pass in gay confusion,
And nights in rosy riot fly,
While, lost in Fame's or Wealth's illusion,
The memory of the Past may die.

But, there are hours of lonely musing,
Such as in evening silence come,
When, soft as birds their pinions closing,
The heart's best feelings gather home.
Then in our souls there seems to languish
A tender grief that is not woe;
And thoughts that once wrung groans of anguish,
Now cause but some mild tears to flow.

And feelings, once as strong as passions,
Float softly back-­a faded dream;
Our own sharp griefs and wild sensations,
The tale of others' sufferings seem.
Oh ! when the heart is freshly bleeding,
How longs it for that time to be,
When, through the mist of years receding,
Its woes but live in reverie !

And it can dwell on moonlight glimmer,
On evening shade and loneliness;
And, while the sky grows dim and dimmer,
Feel no untold and strange distress­
Only a deeper impulse given
By lonely hour and darkened room,
To solemn thoughts that soar to heaven,
Seeking a life and world to come.”
― Emily Brontë, quote from The Complete Poems of Emily Bronte [with Biographical Introduction]


“Hope Was but a timid friend;
She sat without the grated den,
Watching how my fate would tend,
Even as selfish-hearted men.

She was cruel in her fear;
Through the bars one dreary day,
I looked out to see her there,
And she turned her face away!

Like a false guard, false watch keeping,
Still, in strife, she whispered peace;
She would sing while I was weeping;
If I listened, she would cease.

False she was, and unrelenting;
When my last joys strewed the ground,
Even Sorrow saw, repenting,
Those sad relics scattered round;

Hope, whose whisper would have given
Balm to all my frenzied pain,
Stretched her wings, and soared to heaven,
Went, and ne'er returned again!”
― Emily Brontë, quote from The Complete Poems of Emily Bronte [with Biographical Introduction]



“What have those lonely mountains worth revealing?
More glory and more grief than I can tell:”
― Emily Brontë, quote from The Complete Poems of Emily Bronte [with Biographical Introduction]


“How clear she shines ! How quietly
I lie beneath her guardian light;
While heaven and earth are whispering me,
" To morrow, wake, but, dream to-night."
Yes, Fancy, come, my Fairy love !
These throbbing temples softly kiss;
And bend my lonely couch above
And bring me rest, and bring me bliss.

The world is going; dark world, adieu !
Grim world, conceal thee till the day;
The heart, thou canst not all subdue,
Must still resist, if thou delay !

Thy love I will not, will not share;
Thy hatred only wakes a smile;
Thy griefs may wound–thy wrongs may tear,
But, oh, thy lies shall ne'er beguile !
While gazing on the stars that glow
Above me, in that stormless sea,
I long to hope that all the woe
Creation knows, is held in thee !

And, this shall be my dream to-night;
I'll think the heaven of glorious spheres

[Page 104]
Is rolling on its course of light
In endless bliss, through endless years;
I'll think, there's not one world above,
Far as these straining eyes can see,
Where Wisdom ever laughed at Love,
Or Virtue crouched to Infamy;

Where, writhing 'neath the strokes of Fate,
The mangled wretch was forced to smile;
To match his patience 'gainst her hate,
His heart rebellious all the while.
Where Pleasure still will lead to wrong,
And helpless Reason warn in vain;
And Truth is weak, and Treachery strong;
And Joy the surest path to Pain;
And Peace, the lethargy of Grief;
And Hope, a phantom of the soul;
And Life, a labour, void and brief;
And Death, the despot of the whole !”
― Emily Brontë, quote from The Complete Poems of Emily Bronte [with Biographical Introduction]


“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?”
― Emily Brontë, quote from The Complete Poems of Emily Bronte [with Biographical Introduction]


“He comes with western winds, with evening's
wandering airs,
With that clear dusk of heaven that brings the
thickest stars.
Winds take a pensive tone, and stars a tender fire,
And visions rise, and change, that kill me with
desire.”
― Emily Brontë, quote from The Complete Poems of Emily Bronte [with Biographical Introduction]


“And when thy heart is resting, Beneath the church-aisle stone, I shall have time for mourning, And thou for being alone.”
― Emily Brontë, quote from The Complete Poems of Emily Bronte [with Biographical Introduction]



About the author

Emily Brontë
Born place: in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, The United Kingdom
Born date July 30, 1818
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Crookedkit purred, his jealousy melting. He loved Oakpaw too much to want anything less than the best for him. He just wished Rainflower loved them equally. Oakpaw”
― Erin Hunter, quote from Crookedstar's Promise


“Un homme de bien, un homme de bon sens, croit toujours ce qu’on lui dit et ce qu’il trouve dans les livres.”
― François Rabelais, quote from Gargantua


“the deeper I went down the rabbit hole, the more muffled that voice got.”
― Maya Cross, quote from Locked


“That brought Rachel up short. Getting any sort of response out of Notak was hard enough. She could count one hand the times she had ever seen him actually hurt by something. It was like seeing a mountain cry. Something you really didn’t want to see.”
― S.G. Night, quote from Attrition: the First Act of Penance


“People no longer need enemies--in this millennium their great dream is to become victims. Only their psychopathies can set them free...”
― J.G. Ballard, quote from Super-Cannes


Interesting books

Cat and Mouse
(52.5K)
Cat and Mouse
by James Patterson
It Can't Happen Here
(9.3K)
It Can't Happen Here
by Sinclair Lewis
Crocodile Tears
(25.8K)
Crocodile Tears
by Anthony Horowitz
Lost in the Funhouse
(4.8K)
Lost in the Funhouse
by John Barth
Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger's
(53.9K)
Look Me in the Eye:...
by John Elder Robison
Olympos
(13.4K)
Olympos
by Dan Simmons

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.