Cold In The Earth
By Emily Bronte
Cold In the Earth
By Emily Bronte
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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-wearing wave?
Now, when alone, do my thoughts no longer hover
Over the mountains on Angora's shore;
Resting their wings where heath and fern-leaves cover
That 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:
Sterner desires and darker hopes beset me,
Hopes which obscure but cannot do thee wrong.
No other Sun has lightened up my heaven;
No other Star 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?
Bronte’s Background
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Emily Bronte was born on 30 July 1818 and died on 19 December 1848(1848-1219) (aged 30).
She was the younger sister of Charlotte Bronte and the fifth of six children.
In 1824, Bronte and her family lived in Thornton then moved to Haworth where
Emily's father was perpetual curate, and it was in these surroundings that their
literary gifts flourished.
In 1821 Her mother died and her sister Elizabeth came to take care of the children.
In 1824 she attended the newly opened Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge.
While there along with her sisters Maria, Elizabeth and Charlotte they suffer the
harsh regime, cold and poor food. In June 1825 Emily and her sisters were finally
taken away from the school for good.
In May 1846 under the Pseudonym of Currer Ellis and Acton Bell, a book of Poems
was published, Emily contributed 21 poems.
Theme/ Rhyme & Structure
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Theme of Cold in the Earth are:
Death/Loss of her only love.
Time she has been in pain and thinking about him since his death.
The pain separation has cause her.
Life she wants to fulfil after his death.
• The stucture of the poem is 4 lines per stanza with the rhyme scheme
ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH and so on.
Summary
• The poem Cold in the Earth is about death and love, a woman who has
lost her only love and she cannot stop thinking about him, she wants to
die just to be with him. She goes on to say that he was her everything and
she cannot ever love anyone else, after years pass with her carrying this
pain around with her everywhere she went, she realises this pain does
nothing for her, it’s not going to bring her love back. She gives up and
forbids herself to think about dying just to be with him and chooses to
continue living even though she says the world is empty without him but
she still wishes go on living even if she doesn’t live a life full of joy without
her love.
Analysis #1
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“..deep snow piled above thee!” – this quote shows that as time passes Bronte
pain and troubles piles up, It also shows us how the deepness of the snow is
keeping them far apart form each other’s love which adds to the feeling of
coldness and numbs her.
“Have I forgot, my Only Love, to love thee” – much time has passed and she has
almost forgotten about her “Only Love” which shows us that her love has been
dead for quite a long time now.
“Time is a all-wearing wave?” – as time passes she is questioning if pain really
does heal over time because she still feels the pain as if it is fresh.
“And fifteen wild Decembers” – shows us that 15 years has passed and Bronte is
still thinking of her lover and hasn’t forgotten about them which shows she was
faithful to them. But “December” gives us imagery of a dark snowy night which
represents death.
Analysis #2
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“Sweet Love of youth, forgive if I forget thee” – this line shows us this love was
young love and she has capitalized ‘L’ in “Love” to show how important he was to
her, “forgive if I forget thee” also emphasizes this is young love because young
people forget easily and Bronte is asking for forgiveness is she forgets about her
one and only love.
“While the world's tide is bearing me along:” – time is passing and is distancing
Bronte from her love and this is why Bronte said “forgive if I forget thee” in the
previous like.
“No other Sun has lightened up my heaven;/ No other Star has ever shone for
me:” - This shows us that her love was one of a kind and the imagery created by
“lightened” and “shone” is a image of happiness
“All my life's bliss from thy dear life was given,
All my life's bliss is in the grave with thee.” – All the happiness in her life could
only be given by her lover and now since he is dead all her happiness is buried
with him and is gone.
Analysis #3
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“But when the days of golden dreams had perished” – this shows that all the
happy days are now gone “dreams” shows us that it was joy she had and “golden”
emphasizes the happiness she had with her lover that has not “perished”
“Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened and fed without the aid of joy;” – She is continuing with her live
and has gotten over the phase of wanting to die to be with her love even thought
her life now has no joy, she has gained strength from independent since his death.
“Then did I check the tears of useless passion,”– She realized her tears were
useless and were not going to bring back her lover “tears of useless passion”, also
emphasizes her grief but wanting to live.
“Weaned my young soul from yearning after thine; “ – She has forced herself to
stop loving any other since the death of the death of him and she is saying no one
can ever replace him.
Analysis #4
• “Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine! “ – She has harshly denied
to herself that she wishes to die and early death just to be with him.
• “Dare not indulge in Memory's rapturous pain;
Once drinking deep of that divinest anguish, “ – She is afraid to feel the
pain again as if it was fresh by thinking of the memories with her lover.
“How could I seek the empty world again? “- She continues living but she
find the world empty without him.