Warning and Reply
In the earth--the earth--thou shalt be laid,A grey stone standing over thee;Black mould beneath thee spread,And black mould to cover thee.
"Well--there is rest there,So fast come thy prophecy;The time when my sunny hairShall with grass roots entwined be."
But cold--cold is that resting-place,Shut out from joy and liberty,And all who loved thy living faceWill shrink from it shudderingly,
"Not so. HERE the world is chill,And sworn friends fall from me:But THERE--they will own me still,And prize my memory."
Farewell, then, all that love,All that deep sympathy:Sleep on: Heaven laughs above,Earth never misses thee.
Turf-sod and tombstone drearPart human company;One heart breaks only--here,But that heart was worthy thee!
Words in this poem
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- 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]
- sunny a.
- Of or pertaining to the sun; proceeding from, or resembling the sun; hence, shining; bright; brilliant; radiant.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- shudderingly adv.
- In a shuddering manner.
- tombstone n.
- A stone erected over a grave, to preserve the memory of the deceased.
- drear n.
- Sadness; dismalness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Warning and Reply 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, Warning and Reply, in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1019, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bronte-poems/warning-and-reply.html, id L13278.
Form and metre
Warning and Reply is 24 lines in 6 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is short measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in short 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 -A-A laid · theeA · spread · theeA
- 2 A-A- thereA · prophecy · hairA · be
- 3 A-A- placeA · liberty · faceA · shudderingly
- 4 A-A- chillA · me · stillA · memory
- 5 A-A- loveA · sympathy · aboveA · thee
- 6 A-A- drearA · company · hereA · thee
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 short measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In the earth--the earth--thou shalt be laid, | 9 | ········· |
| A grey stone standing over thee; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Black mould beneath thee spread, | 6 | ······ |
| And black mould to cover thee. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| "Well--there is rest there, | 5 | ····· |
| So fast come thy prophecy; | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| The time when my sunny hair | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Shall with grass roots entwined be." | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| But cold--cold is that resting-place, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shut out from joy and liberty, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| And all who loved thy living face | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Will shrink from it shudderingly, | 8 | ····/˘˘˘ |
| "Not so. HERE the world is chill, | 7 | ······· |
| And sworn friends fall from me: | 6 | ······ |
| But THERE--they will own me still, | 7 | ······· |
| And prize my memory." | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Farewell, then, all that love, | 6 | ·/···· |
| All that deep sympathy: | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| Sleep on: Heaven laughs above, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Earth never misses thee. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Turf-sod and tombstone drear | 6 | ···/·· |
| Part human company; | 6 | ·/˘/˘˘ |
| One heart breaks only--here, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But that heart was worthy thee! | 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.