Remembrance is a poem by the English novelist and poet Emily Brontë. Although best known for her romantic novel Wuthering Heights (1847), Brontë is also recognized as a poet of depth and originality.
“Remembrance” was published in 1846 along with several other poems by Emily Brontë and her two sisters. The Brontës disguised their identities by using pseudonyms (fictional names) and published their poetry under the title Poems, by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. Many of the poems are based in the fictional world of Gondal, an imaginary kingdom invented by Emily and Anne. In Gondal terms, “Remembrance” is a lament by the character Rosina for her long-dead lover, Julius. On a more general level, the poem describes the process of mourning. In it, a bereaved woman struggles between loyalty to her dead lover and the pull toward “other desires and other hopes.”
Cold in the earth—and the deep snow piled above thee, Far, far removed, cold in the dreary grave! Have I forgot, my only Love, to love thee, Severed at last by Time’s all-severing wave? Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover Over the mountains, on that northern shore, Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves cover Thy noble heart for ever, ever more? Cold in the earth—and fifteen wild Decembers From those brown hills have melted into spring— Faithful indeed is the spirit that remembers After such years of change and suffering! Sweet Love of youth, forgive if I forget thee While the world’s tide is bearing me along: Other desires and other hopes beset me, Hopes which obscure, but cannot do thee wrong! No later light has lightened up my heaven; No second morn has ever shone for me: All my life’s bliss from thy dear life was given— All my life’s bliss is in the grave with thee. But, when the days of golden dreams had perished, And even Despair was powerless to destroy, Then did I learn how existence could be cherished, Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy; Then did I check the tears of useless passion, Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine; Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten Down to that tomb already more than mine! And, even yet, I dare not let it languish, Dare not indulge in Memory’s rapturous pain; Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish, How could I seek the empty world again?
A characteristic property of Brontë’s verse is its haunting verbal quality, despite her use of simple and direct language. There is an urgency to her poetic voice that is seen in the passion and emotional richness of Wuthering Heights. The bleak, wintry landscape, suggestive of the Yorkshire moors where the Brontës lived, also reflects the inner sadness and isolation of the speaker.
In this intensely personal world, the “rapturous pain” of longing seems preferable to the barrenness of the outside world. Much of Brontë’s impulse is a search for release through a communion with the dead. However, in “Remembrance,” she recognizes the dangers of giving in to grief and accepts that she must live in this world.
Emily Brontë died at the age of 30. She never saw the fame and critical acclaim that have since become associated with her work.
For more information, see Brontë sisters. See also English literature (Victorian literature (1832-1901)).
