Lines Written at Thorp Green

Lines Written at Thorp Green

Written: August 19th. 1841. First Published: 1902.

(Not to be confused with the poem of 28 August 1840 which had the same title on the manuscript - but was re-named 'Appeal' for publication in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell in 1846 - see earlier.)

Edward Chitham writes:

'The poem follows a long gap in Anne's writing. Her life in 1841 is rather better monitored than in 1840: she is mentioned a number of times in Charlotte's letters, and there is the 1841 diary paper, written at Scarborough. Twelve days before this poem Charlotte wrote to Ellen on the topic of Anne's loneliness:

"She is more lonely - less gifted with the power of making friends even than I am . . ."

The comment is strongly supported by the text of the poem.'

(See also: Chitham, 'The Poems of Anne Brontë', p.79 & p.173)

That summer sun, whose genial glow
Now cheers my drooping spirit so
Must cold and distant be,
And only light our northern clime
With feeble ray, before the time
I long so much to see.

And this soft whispering breeze that now
So gently cools my fevered brow,
This too, alas, must turn --
To a wild blast whose icy dart
Pierces and chills me to the heart,
Before I cease to mourn.

And these bright flowers I love so well,
Verbena, rose and sweet bluebell,
Must droop and die away.
Those thick green leaves with all their shade
And rustling music, they must fade
And every one decay.

But if the sunny summer time
And woods and meadows in their prime
Are sweet to them that roam --
Far sweeter is the winter bare
With long dark nights and landscapes drear
To them that are at Home!

'An Orphan's Lament'

'Lines Written at Thorp Green'

'Despondency '

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Mick Armitage (e-mail)