To Cowper and other poems : autograph manuscript of 9 poems, signed, 1842–1845
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1900
“To Cowper” (pp. 1–3)
Dated 10 November 1842, when Brontë was twenty-two. The poem is addressed to the English poet William Cowper (1731–1800). First published in Poems (1846). Poem 19 in Chitham (1979).
To holy things and holy men
And how couldst thou so sweetly sing—
Of things that God alone could teach?
And whence that Angel purity;
That hatred of all sinful ways
That kind and gentle charity?
Are these the symptoms of a heart
Of every Heavenly grace bereft
For ever bannished from its God
To Satan[’]s wildest fury left?
Yet, should thy blackest darkest fears be true
If Heaven’s decrees be so severe
That such a soul as thine is lost
O! how my God shall I appear?
Anne Brontë
Nov – 10th 1842
Text as published in Poems (1846)
To holy things and holy men?
And how so sweetly sing,
Of things that God alone could teach?
And whence that purity,
That hatred of all sinful ways—
That gentle charity?
Are these the symptoms of a heart
Of heavenly grace bereft:
For ever banished from its God,
To Satan’s fury left?
Yet, should thy darkest fears be true,
If Heaven be so severe,
That such a soul as thine is lost,—
Oh! How shall I appear?
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