Death
Death! that struck when I was most confiding.In my certain faith of joy to be--Strike again, Time's withered branch dividingFrom the fresh root of Eternity!
Leaves, upon Time's branch, were growing brightly,Full of sap, and full of silver dew;Birds beneath its shelter gathered nightly;Daily round its flowers the wild bees flew.
Sorrow passed, and plucked the golden blossom;Guilt stripped off the foliage in its prideBut, within its parent's kindly bosom,Flowed for ever Life's restoring tide.
Little mourned I for the parted gladness,For the vacant nest and silent song--Hope was there, and laughed me out of sadness;Whispering, "Winter will not linger long!"
And, behold! with tenfold increase blessing,Spring adorned the beauty-burdened spray;Wind and rain and fervent heat, caressing,Lavished glory on that second May!
High it rose--no winged grief could sweep it;Sin was scared to distance with its shine;Love, and its own life, had power to keep itFrom all wrong--from every blight but thine!
Cruel Death! The young leaves droop and languish;Evening's gentle air may still restore--No! the morning sunshine mocks my anguish-Time, for me, must never blossom more!
Strike it down, that other boughs may flourishWhere that perished sapling used to be;Thus, at least, its mouldering corpse will nourishThat from which it sprung--Eternity.
Words in this poem
- confiding a.
- That confides; trustful; unsuspicious.
- nightly a.
- Of or pertaining to the night, or to every night; happening or done by night, or every night; as, nightly shades; he kept nightly vigils.
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- fervent a.
- Hot; glowing; boiling; burning; as, a fervent summer. [F. fervent, L. fervens, -entis. p.pr. of fervere o the boiling hot, to boil, glow.]
- languish v. i.
- To cause to dr Shak.
- sunshine n.
- The light of the sun, or the place where it shines; the direct rays of the sun, the place where they fall, or the warmth and light which they give.
- corpse n.
- A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Death is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, Project Gutenberg ebook #1019; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë, Death, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bronte-poems/death.html, id L13245.
Form and metre
Death is 32 lines in 8 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 5 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.3 syllables. 16 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 16% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 A-A- confidingA · be · dividingA · eternity
- 2 ABAB brightlyA · dewB · nightlyA · flewB
- 3 -A-A blossom · prideA · bosom · tideA
- 4 ABAB gladnessA · songB · sadnessA · longB
- 5 ABAB blessingA · sprayB · caressingA · mayB
- 6 ABAB itA · shineB · itA · thineB
- 7 ABAB languishA · restoreB · anguishA · moreB
- 8 A-A- flourishA · be · nourishA · eternity
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Death! that struck when I was most confiding. | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| In my certain faith of joy to be-- | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| Strike again, Time's withered branch dividing | 10 | ·˘/·/˘·˘/˘ |
| From the fresh root of Eternity! | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
| Leaves, upon Time's branch, were growing brightly, | 9 | ······//˘ |
| Full of sap, and full of silver dew; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| Birds beneath its shelter gathered nightly; | 10 | ····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Daily round its flowers the wild bees flew. | 9 | /˘··/···· |
| Sorrow passed, and plucked the golden blossom; | 10 | /˘····/˘/˘ |
| Guilt stripped off the foliage in its pride | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| But, within its parent's kindly bosom, | 10 | ····/˘/˘/˘ |
| Flowed for ever Life's restoring tide. | 8 | ··/·˘/˘· |
| Little mourned I for the parted gladness, | 10 | /˘····/˘/˘ |
| For the vacant nest and silent song-- | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| Hope was there, and laughed me out of sadness; | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Whispering, "Winter will not linger long!" | 9 | /˘/˘··/˘· |
| And, behold! with tenfold increase blessing, | 10 | ·˘/·/·/·/˘ |
| Spring adorned the beauty-burdened spray; | 9 | ·˘/·/˘/˘· |
| Wind and rain and fervent heat, caressing, | 10 | ····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Lavished glory on that second May! | 9 | /˘/˘··/˘· |
| High it rose--no winged grief could sweep it; | 9 | ········· |
| Sin was scared to distance with its shine; | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Love, and its own life, had power to keep it | 10 | ······/··· |
| From all wrong--from every blight but thine! | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Cruel Death! The young leaves droop and languish; | 9 | /······/˘ |
| Evening's gentle air may still restore-- | 9 | /˘/˘···˘/ |
| No! the morning sunshine mocks my anguish- | 10 | ··/˘/···/˘ |
| Time, for me, must never blossom more! | 8 | ····//˘· |
| Strike it down, that other boughs may flourish | 10 | ····/˘··/˘ |
| Where that perished sapling used to be; | 9 | ··/˘/˘··· |
| Thus, at least, its mouldering corpse will nourish | 10 | ····/˘··/˘ |
| That from which it sprung--Eternity. | 9 | ·····˘/˘˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.