Oh, For The Time When I Shall Sleep

Emily Jane Brontë 1818 (Thornton) – 1848 (Haworth)



Oh, for the time when I shall sleep
Without identity,
And never care how rain may steep,
Or snow may cover me!
No promised heaven these wild desires
Could all, or half, fulful;
No threatened hell, with quenchless fires,
Subdue this quenchless will!

So said I, and still say the same;
Still, to my death, will say—
Three gods within this little frame
Are warring night and day:
Heaven could not hold them all, and yet
They all are held in me;
And must be mine till I forget
My present entity!

Oh, for the time when in my breast
Their struggles will be o'er!
Oh, for the day when I shall rest,
And never suffer more!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 12, 2023

36 sec read
50

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABCDCD EFEFGBGB HXHX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 606
Words 119
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 4

Emily Jane Brontë

Emily Jane Brontë was an English novelist and poet who is best known for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. She also published one book of poetry with her sisters Charlotte and Anne titled Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell with her own poems finding regard as poetic genius. Emily was the third-eldest of the four surviving Brontë siblings, between the youngest Anne and her brother Branwell. She published under the pen name Ellis Bell. more…

All Emily Jane Brontë poems | Emily Jane Brontë Books

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