Laurel · Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë · Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

The Bluebell

Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë (1816–1855) · 1846

common measure · ABAB · 32 lines · from Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell

The Bluebell is the sweetest flowerThat waves in summer air:Its blossoms have the mightiest powerTo soothe my spirit's care.

There is a spell in purple heathToo wildly, sadly dear;The violet has a fragrant breath,But fragrance will not cheer,

The trees are bare, the sun is cold,And seldom, seldom seen;The heavens have lost their zone of gold,And earth her robe of green.

And ice upon the glancing streamHas cast its sombre shade;And distant hills and valleys seemIn frozen mist arrayed.

The Bluebell cannot charm me now,The heath has lost its bloom;The violets in the glen below,They yield no sweet perfume.

But, though I mourn the sweet Bluebell,'Tis better far away;I know how fast my tears would swellTo see it smile to-day.

For, oh! when chill the sunbeams fallAdown that dreary sky,And gild yon dank and darkened wallWith transient brilliancy;

How do I weep, how do I pineFor the time of flowers to come,And turn me from that fading shine,To mourn the fields of home!

Words in this poem

soothe v. t.: To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
sadly adv.: Wearily; heavily; firmly.
glancing a.: Shooting, as light.
sombre n.: Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
adown adv.: From a higher to a lower situation; downward; down, to or on the ground. [OE. adun, adoun, adune. AS. of dune off the hill. See Down.]
dreary a.: Sorrowful; distressful. [OE. dreori, dreri, AS. dreórig, sad; akin to G. traurig, and prob. to AS. dreósan to fall, Goth. driusan. Cf. Dross, Drear, Drizzle, Drowse.]
dank n.: Moisture; humidity; water.
fading n.: An Irish dance; also, the burden of a song.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Bluebell 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, The Bluebell, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bronte-poems/the-bluebell.html, id L13272.

Form and metre

The Bluebell 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 common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% 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 flower^A · air^B · power^A · care^B
2 -A-A heath · dear^A · breath · cheer^A
3 ABAB cold^A · seen^B · gold^A · green^B
4 ABAB stream^A · shade^B · seem^A · arrayed^B
5 -A-A now · bloom^A · below · perfume^A
6 ABAB bluebell^A · away^B · swell^A · day^B
7 A-A- fall^A · sky · wall^A · brilliancy
8 ABAB pine^A · come^B · shine^A · home^B

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
The Bluebell is the sweetest flower	9	·/···/˘/˘
That waves in summer air:	6	···/˘·
Its blossoms have the mightiest power	8	·/˘··/˘/
To soothe my spirit's care.	6	···/˘·
There is a spell in purple heath	8	·····/˘·
Too wildly, sadly dear;	6	·/˘/˘·
The violet has a fragrant breath,	8	·/˘··/˘·
But fragrance will not cheer,	6	·/˘···
The trees are bare, the sun is cold,	8	········
And seldom, seldom seen;	6	·/˘/˘·
The heavens have lost their zone of gold,	9	·/˘······
And earth her robe of green.	6	······
And ice upon the glancing stream	8	·····/˘·
Has cast its sombre shade;	6	···/˘·
And distant hills and valleys seem	8	·/˘··/˘·
In frozen mist arrayed.	7	·/˘·˘/˘
The Bluebell cannot charm me now,	8	·/·/˘···
The heath has lost its bloom;	6	······
The violets in the glen below,	8	·/˘·····
They yield no sweet perfume.	6	····˘/
But, though I mourn the sweet Bluebell,	8	······/·
'Tis better far away;	6	·/˘·˘/
I know how fast my tears would swell	8	········
To see it smile to-day.	6	······
For, oh! when chill the sunbeams fall	8	·····/··
Adown that dreary sky,	6	˘/·/˘·
And gild yon dank and darkened wall	8	·····/˘·
With transient brilliancy;	6	·/˘/˘˘
How do I weep, how do I pine	8	········
For the time of flowers to come,	8	····/˘··
And turn me from that fading shine,	8	·····/˘·
To mourn the fields of home!	6	······

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.

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