The Philosopher by Emily Bronte

THE PHILOSOPHER - Emily Bronte
Enough of thought, philosopher!
Too long hast thou been dreaming
Unlightened, in this chamber drear,
While summer’s sun is beaming!
Space-sweeping soul, what sad refrain
Concludes thy musings once again?
“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 fulfil;
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!”
“I saw a spirit, standing, man,
Where thou dost stand—an hour ago,
And round his feet three rivers ran,
Of equal depth, and equal flow—
A golden stream—and one like blood;
And one like sapphire seemed to be;
But, where they joined their triple flood
It tumbled in an inky sea
The spirit sent his dazzling gaze
Down through that ocean’s gloomy night;
Then, kindling all, with sudden blaze,
The glad deep sparkled wide and bright—
White as the sun, far, far more fair
Than its divided sources were!”
“And even for that spirit, seer,
I’ve watched and sought my life-time long;
Sought him in heaven, hell, earth, and air,
An endless search, and always wrong.
Had I but seen his glorious eye
ONCE light the clouds that wilder me;
I ne’er had raised this coward cry
To cease to think, and cease to be;
I ne’er had called oblivion blest,
Nor stretching eager hands to death,
Implored to change for senseless rest
This sentient soul, this living breath—
Oh, let me die—that power and will
Their cruel strife may close;
And conquered good, and conquering ill
Be lost in one repose!”

Analysis 

This poem is somewhat incoherent to people. But if it is compared to other of her poems it is actually on of the most well thought poem in the sense that it answers the most distinctly the dominant questions which concerns about her identity. She is obviously confused of what her identity is. This poem also significantly reveals the intellectual tragedy of her life which can be seen through her words. “for the time when I shall sleep without identity” shows that even when she sleeps she has an identity that no matter what happens it will all be held in her till the day she dies.

The stanza “ Had I but seen his glorious eye ONCE light the clouds that wilder me; I ne’er had raised this coward cry To cease to think, and cease to be; I ne’er had called oblivion blest, Nor stretching eager hands to death, Implored to change for senseless rest This sentient soul, this living breath— Oh, let me die—that power and will Their cruel strife may close; And conquered good, and conquering ill Be lost in one repose!” is actually one of the most significant paragraph as it shows most about what she is feeling at that point in time. The sentence “conquered good and conquering ill” shows that she wishes that she could conquer both yet it is impossible to achieve a balance between good and evil. Furthermore, “Lost in one repose” shows that when evil triumphs good is a natural outcome.

Death is also one of the themes that were showed in this poem. From “To cease to think, and cease to be; I ne’er had called oblivion blest, Nor stretching eager hands to death, Implored to change for senseless rest This sentient soul, this living breath— Oh, let me die—that power and will Their cruel strife may close” we can see that the poet seeks death as a way to end everything and the cruelness of people around her that might be hurting her.

Her punctuations was jumbled everywhere thus showing that her emotions might be messed up making it impossible for her to put proper punctuations to signalize that her thoughts was phrased and put correctly so that others can read it better.

The poet.

(Tresa)