On the Death of Anne Bronte
by Charlotte Bronte

English novelist. Her most famous work is Jane Eyre (1847). Her first published work was a joint volume of poetry with her sisters Anne and Emily which appeared in 1846. Her other novels are Shirley (1849) and Villette (1853); her first novel The Professor was published in 1857, after her death.

Charlotte Bronte is one of the first woman novelists to have portrayed men and women as equally justified in declaring their love and remains one of the most widely read novelists in the English language.

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On the Death of Anne Bronte
by Charlotte Bronte

There's little joy in life for me,
And little terror in the grave;
I've lived the parting hour to see
Of one I would have died to save.

Calmly to watch the failing breath,
Wishing each sigh might be the last;
Longing to see the shade of death
O'er those beloved features cast;

The cloud, the stillness that must part
The darling of my life from me;
And then to thank God from my heart,
To thank him well and fervently;

Although I knew that we had lost
The hope and glory of our life;
And now, benighted, tempest-tossed,
Must bear alone the weary strife.

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On the Death of Anne Bronte by Charlotte Bronte