To Cowper and other poems : autograph manuscript of 9 poems, signed, 1842–1845
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1900
to me
My heart shall never know despare
——————
Hespera Caverndel Anne Brontë Nov. 7th 1843
T’is Strange to Think
’Tis strange to think there was a time
When mirth was not an empty name
When laughter really cheered the heart
And frequent smiles unbidden came
And tears of grief would only flow
In sympathy for others’ wo.
When speech expressed the inward thought
And heart, to kindred heart was bare
And Summer days were far too short
For all the pleasures crowded there
Text as published in Poems (1846)
To me,
My heart shall never know despair!
PAST DAYS.
’Tis strange to think, there was a time
When mirth was not an empty name,
When laughter really cheered the heart,
And frequent smiles unbidden came,
And tears of grief would only flow
In sympathy for others’ woe;
When speech expressed the inward thought,
And heart to kindred heart was bare,
And Summer days were far too short
For all the pleasures crowded there,
“The Consolation” (pp. 13–16)
Dated 7 November 1843, when Brontë was twenty-three. Written in the voice of Hespera Caverndel, a character in the Gondal saga. First published in Poems (1846). Published in Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey (London: Smith Elder, 1850) with title “Lines Written from Home” and revisions by Charlotte Brontë. Poem 25 in Chitham (1979); also published in The Brontës: Tales of Glass Town, Angria, and Gondal. Selected Writings, ed. Christine Alexander (Oxford University Press, 2010), pp. 466–67.
“’Tis strange to think” (pp. 16–18)
Dated 21 November 1843, when Brontë was twenty-three. First published in Poems (1846) with title “Past Days.” Poem 26 in Chitham (1979).