Option Assignment: Paired Poems

In this optional assignment, I decided to do another paired-poem. I enjoyed very much the last paired-poem and chose to work this time with the Victorian Era. After doing some research, I found some quite useful information about this era, it was inspired by the romantic era and not many females were part of it. Fortunately, two sisters were one of the few women who left their legacy to us: Charlotte and Emily Bronte.

I decided to pick both sisters because I wanted to compare their styles. I thought it might have been interesting to seen their similarities but also their differences. Both sisters lived a life full with tragedies as each member of their family kept on dying. This caused them to write and incorporate their deep emotions into their work. Their background is what attracted me to read their work; I realized that their work must include many of those incidents that impacted their life. And in my opinion, I enjoy reading and learning about how some famous writers are able to include their dilemmas but still manage to make it open to the audience.

Charlotte Bronte, I would say her work was inspired by those closed to her. In this poem in particular, she explores what life means to her. In this poem, she explains how Life can easily end at any point. She gives the audience an advice “Enjoy them as they fly!”(Line 12) But she is also telling herself that life is too short, and she has plenty of things to live for and accomplish. Death has caused such a great impact in her life, (as she seen her mother, and sisters died in front of her eyes) that in this poem, she later mentions “What thought Death at times step in, /And calls our Best away?”(Lines 13-14). I found this poem so captivated because Bronte is doing two things at once. She is self-reflecting about her life, her family’s life, and yet she manages to speak to directly to the reader.

Emily Bronte, just like her sister, used the technique of writing as an escape or a way for her to relief her emotions. But unlike her sister Charlotte, Emily will talk more about her faith to God than about her life. In her poem No Coward Soul is Mine, Bronte is using a strong tone towards the subject of faith and death. She opens up her poem with a strong statement “No coward soul is mine” (Line 1) which is also the title. This first line clearly states how Emily has a strong will, with no desire to give up on anything, and if death is her path, she will happily agree with God. Bronte also describes her feelings towards heaven, “I see Heaven’s glories shine,” (Line 3).

I believe that the Bronte’s sister were so familiar with death that it inspired them to write about it and to not fear it. Instead, they waited for it. Charlotte saw death as a factor of life, while Emily saw it as an inevitable occurrence. What connects these two poems is their desire for hope, for faith, and for death.
Once again, I found this assignment to be quite interesting. I enjoyed learning about the lives of these two wonderful women.