Encouragement
I do not weep; I would not weep;Our mother needs no tears:Dry thine eyes, too; 'tis vain to keepThis causeless grief for years.
What though her brow be changed and cold,Her sweet eyes closed for ever?What though the stone--the darksome mouldOur mortal bodies sever?
What though her hand smooth ne'er againThose silken locks of thine?Nor, through long hours of future pain,Her kind face o'er thee shine?
Remember still, she is not dead;She sees us, sister, now;Laid, where her angel spirit fled,'Mid heath and frozen snow.
And from that world of heavenly lightWill she not always bendTo guide us in our lifetime's night,And guard us to the end?
Thou knowest she will; and thou mayst mournThat WE are left below:But not that she can ne'er returnTo share our earthly woe.
Words in this poem
- needs adv.
- Of necessity; necessarily; indispensably; -- often with must, and equivalent to of need. [Orig. gen. of need, used as an adverb. Cf. - wards.]
- causeless a.
- 1. Self-originating; uncreated.
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Encouragement 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, Encouragement, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bronte-poems/encouragement.html, id L13283.
Form and metre
Encouragement is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 4 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 29% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB weepA · tearsB · keepA · yearsB
- 2 ABAB coldA · everB · mouldA · severB
- 3 ABAB againA · thineB · painA · shineB
- 4 A-A- deadA · now · fledA · snow
- 5 ABAB lightA · bendB · nightA · endB
- 6 -A-A mourn · belowA · return · woeA
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I do not weep; I would not weep; | 8 | ········ |
| Our mother needs no tears: | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Dry thine eyes, too; 'tis vain to keep | 8 | ········ |
| This causeless grief for years. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| What though her brow be changed and cold, | 8 | ········ |
| Her sweet eyes closed for ever? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| What though the stone--the darksome mould | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Our mortal bodies sever? | 8 | /˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| What though her hand smooth ne'er again | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Those silken locks of thine? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Nor, through long hours of future pain, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Her kind face o'er thee shine? | 6 | ······ |
| Remember still, she is not dead; | 8 | ˘/˘····· |
| She sees us, sister, now; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Laid, where her angel spirit fled, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| 'Mid heath and frozen snow. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And from that world of heavenly light | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Will she not always bend | 6 | ···/·· |
| To guide us in our lifetime's night, | 8 | ····//·· |
| And guard us to the end? | 6 | ······ |
| Thou knowest she will; and thou mayst mourn | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| That WE are left below: | 6 | ······ |
| But not that she can ne'er return | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To share our earthly woe. | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
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.