The Two Children
Heavy hangs the rain-dropFrom the burdened spray;Heavy broods the damp mistOn uplands far away.
Heavy looms the dull sky,Heavy rolls the sea;And heavy throbs the young heartBeneath that lonely tree.
Never has a blue streakCleft the clouds since morn;Never has his grim fateSmiled since he was born.
Frowning on the infant,Shadowing childhood's joyGuardian-angel knows notThat melancholy boy.
Day is passing swiftlyIts sad and sombre prime;Boyhood sad is mergingIn sadder manhood's time:
All the flowers are prayingFor sun, before they close,And he prays too--unconscious--That sunless human rose.
Blossom--that the west-windHas never wooed to blow,Scentless are thy petals,Thy dew is cold as snow!
Soul--where kindred kindness,No early promise woke,Barren is thy beauty,As weed upon a rock.
Wither--soul and blossom!You both were vainly given;Earth reserves no blessingFor the unblest of heaven!
Child of delight, with sun-bright hair,And sea-blue, sea-deep eyes!Spirit of bliss! What brings thee hereBeneath these sullen skies?
Thou shouldst live in eternal spring,Where endless day is never dim;Why, Seraph, has thine erring wingWafted thee down to weep with him?
"Ah! not from heaven am I descended,Nor do I come to mingle tears;But sweet is day, though with shadows blended;And, though clouded, sweet are youthful years.
"I--the image of light and gladness--Saw and pitied that mournful boy,And I vowed--if need were--to share his sadness,And give to him my sunny joy.
"Heavy and dark the night is closing;Heavy and dark may its biding be:Better for all from grief reposing,And better for all who watch like me--
"Watch in love by a fevered pillow,Cooling the fever with pity's balmSafe as the petrel on tossing billow,Safe in mine own soul's golden calm!
"Guardian-angel he lacks no longer;Evil fortune he need not fear:Fate is strong, but love is stronger;And MY love is truer than angel-care."
Words in this poem
- morn n.
- The first part of the day; the morning; -- used chiefly in poetry. [OE. morwen, morgen, AS. morgen; akin to D. morgen, OS. morgan, G. morgen, Icel. morginn, morgunn, Sw. morgon, Dan. morgen, Goth. maúrgins. Cf. Morrow, Morning.]
- shadowing n.
- Shade, or gradation of light and color; shading. Feltham.
- sombre n.
- Gloom; obscurity; duskiness; somberness.
- boyhood n.
- The state of being a boy; the time during which one is a boy. [Boy + -hood.]
- sunless a.
- Destitute or deprived of the sun or its rays; shaded; shadowed.
- scentless a.
- Having no scent.
- unblest a.
- Not blest; excluded from benediction; hence, accursed; wretched. [Pref. un- not + blessed, blest.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- biding n.
- Residence; habitation. Rowe.
- cooling a.
- Adapted to cool and refresh; allaying heat.
- billow n.
- A great wave or surge of the sea or other water, caused usually by violent wind. [Cf. Icel. bylgja billow, Dan. bölge, Sw. bölja; akin to MHG. bulge billow, bag, and to E. bulge. See Bulge.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Two Children 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 Two Children, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bronte-poems/the-two-children.html, id L13281.
Form and metre
The Two Children is 64 lines in 16 stanzas of 4 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABAB, in 7 of the 16 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is trochaic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 22 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 23% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in trochaic trimeter.
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 drop · sprayA · mist · awayA
- 2 AA-A skyA · seaA · heart · treeA
- 3 -A-A streak · mornA · fate · bornA
- 4 -A-A infant · joyA · not · boyA
- 5 -A-A swiftly · primeA · merging · timeA
- 6 -AAA praying · closeA · unconsciousA · roseA
- 7 -A-A wind · blowA · petals · snowA
- 10 ABAB hairA · eyesB · hereA · skiesB
- 11 ABAB springA · dimB · wingA · himB
- 12 ABAB descendedA · tearsB · blendedA · yearsB
- 13 ABAB gladnessA · boyB · sadnessA · joyB
- 14 ABAB closingA · beB · reposingA · meB
- 15 ABAB pillowA · balmB · billowA · calmB
- 16 ABAB longerA · fearB · strongerA · careB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy hangs the rain-drop | 6 | /˘···· |
| From the burdened spray; | 5 | ··/˘· |
| Heavy broods the damp mist | 6 | /˘···· |
| On uplands far away. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Heavy looms the dull sky, | 6 | /˘···· |
| Heavy rolls the sea; | 5 | /˘··· |
| And heavy throbs the young heart | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Beneath that lonely tree. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Never has a blue streak | 6 | /˘···· |
| Cleft the clouds since morn; | 5 | ····· |
| Never has his grim fate | 6 | /˘···· |
| Smiled since he was born. | 5 | ····· |
| Frowning on the infant, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Shadowing childhood's joy | 6 | /˘˘/·· |
| Guardian-angel knows not | 7 | /˘˘/˘·· |
| That melancholy boy. | 6 | ·/˘·˘· |
| Day is passing swiftly | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Its sad and sombre prime; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Boyhood sad is merging | 6 | /···/˘ |
| In sadder manhood's time: | 6 | ·/˘/·· |
| All the flowers are praying | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| For sun, before they close, | 6 | ······ |
| And he prays too--unconscious-- | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That sunless human rose. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Blossom--that the west-wind | 6 | /˘···· |
| Has never wooed to blow, | 7 | ·/˘·˘·· |
| Scentless are thy petals, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| Thy dew is cold as snow! | 6 | ······ |
| Soul--where kindred kindness, | 7 | ··/˘˘/˘ |
| No early promise woke, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Barren is thy beauty, | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| As weed upon a rock. | 6 | ······ |
| Wither--soul and blossom! | 6 | /˘··/˘ |
| You both were vainly given; | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Earth reserves no blessing | 6 | ·˘/·/˘ |
| For the unblest of heaven! | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Child of delight, with sun-bright hair, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And sea-blue, sea-deep eyes! | 6 | ······ |
| Spirit of bliss! What brings thee here | 8 | /˘······ |
| Beneath these sullen skies? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Thou shouldst live in eternal spring, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Where endless day is never dim; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Why, Seraph, has thine erring wing | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Wafted thee down to weep with him? | 8 | /˘······ |
| "Ah! not from heaven am I descended, | 9 | ···/··˘/˘ |
| Nor do I come to mingle tears; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| But sweet is day, though with shadows blended; | 10 | ······/·/˘ |
| And, though clouded, sweet are youthful years. | 9 | ··/˘··/˘· |
| "I--the image of light and gladness-- | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| Saw and pitied that mournful boy, | 8 | ··/··/˘· |
| And I vowed--if need were--to share his sadness, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| And give to him my sunny joy. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "Heavy and dark the night is closing; | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Heavy and dark may its biding be: | 9 | /˘····/˘· |
| Better for all from grief reposing, | 9 | /˘····/·˘ |
| And better for all who watch like me-- | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| "Watch in love by a fevered pillow, | 9 | ·····/˘/˘ |
| Cooling the fever with pity's balm | 9 | /˘·/˘·/˘· |
| Safe as the petrel on tossing billow, | 10 | ···/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Safe in mine own soul's golden calm! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| "Guardian-angel he lacks no longer; | 9 | /˘/˘···/˘ |
| Evil fortune he need not fear: | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Fate is strong, but love is stronger; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And MY love is truer than angel-care." | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
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.