Collection of poems : autograph manuscript signed : [Haworth]
The Henry Houston Bonnell Brontë Collection. Bequest of Helen Safford Bonnell, 1969
“A Fragment” (“Self-Congratulation”) (pp. 23–26)
Composed on New Year’s Day 1840, when Brontë was about to turn twenty. This is the only composition in the notebook to be included in the first published book by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (London: Aylott & Jones, 1846). Titled “A Fragment” in the manuscript, “Self-Congratulation” in Poems. For publication, Brontë made several revisions, changing the first word from “Maiden” to “Ellen,” for example, removing the Gondal “signature” Olivia Vernon, and revising punctuation. Poem 9 in Chitham (1979); pp. 463–65 in Alexander (2010).
The speaking eye the changing lip
The ready blushing cheek
The smiling or beclouded brow
Their different feelings speak
But thank God! You might gaze on mine
For hours and never know
The secret changes of my soul
From joy to bitter wo
Last night as we sat round the fire
Conversing merrily
We heard without approaching steps
Of one well known to me.
There was no trembling in my voice
No blush upon my cheek
No lustrous sparkle in my eyes
Of hope or joy to speak
But O my spirit burned within
Text as published in Poems (1846)
The speaking eye, the changing lip,
The ready blushing cheek,
The smiling, or beclouded brow,
Their different feelings speak.
But, thank God! You might gaze on mine
For hours, and never know
The secret changes of my soul
From joy to keenest woe.
Last night, as we sat round the fire
Conversing merrily,
We heard, without, approaching steps
Of one well known to me!
There was no trembling in my voice
No blush upon my cheek,
No lustrous sparkle in my eyes,
Of hope, or joy, to speak;
But, oh! My spirit burned within,
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