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).
My heart beat thick and fast
He came not nigh – he went away away
And then my joy was past
And yet my comrades marked it not
My voice was still the same
They saw me smile and o’er my face –
No signs of sadness came
They little knew my hidden thoughts
And they will never now know
The anguish of my drooping heart
The bitter aching wo!
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56 lines Olivia Vernon
written January 1st 1840
Anne Brontë
Text as published in Poems (1846)
My heart beat full and fast!
He came not nigh—he went away—
And then my joy was past.
And yet my comrades marked it not:
My voice was still the same;
They saw me smile, and o’er my face
No signs of sadness came.
They little knew my hidden thoughts;
And they will never know
The aching anguish of my heart,
The bitter burning woe!
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