The Parlour. (from Gilbert) Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABABCDCD EBEBFGFG HIHAEJCA KFKFLLLL MNOPLLLL QRQRSESE OTMTULUL LELEVGVG WLXLYSYS HZHZLA2LA2 B2LB2LLA2LA2 A2C2A2C2D2E2D2E2 E2A2E2A2LA2LA2 A2F2A2F2G2A2G2A2 H2F2H2F2LF2LF2 II2II2A2LA2L J2LJ2LA2LA2L LF2LF2D2LD2L F2F2F2F2A2LA2L LF2LF2LF2LF2 A2IA2IK2LK2L LLLL2F2LF2L LM2LM2F2LF2L N2A2N2A2LLLL A2O2A2O2LP2LP2| Warm is the parlour atmosphere | A |
| Serene the lamp's soft light | B |
| The vivid embers red and clear | A |
| Proclaim a frosty night | B |
| Books varied on the table lie | C |
| Three children o'er them bend | D |
| And all with curious eager eye | C |
| The turning leaf attend | D |
| - | |
| Picture and tale alternately | E |
| Their simple hearts delight | B |
| And interest deep and tempered glee | E |
| Illume their aspects bright | B |
| The parents from their fireside place | F |
| Behold that pleasant scene | G |
| And joy is on the mother's face | F |
| Pride in the father's mien | G |
| - | |
| As Gilbert sees his blooming wife | H |
| Beholds his children fair | I |
| No thought has he of transient strife | H |
| Or past though piercing fear | A |
| The voice of happy infancy | E |
| Lisps sweetly in his ear | J |
| His wife with pleased and peaceful eye | C |
| Sits kindly smiling near | A |
| - | |
| The fire glows on her silken dress | K |
| And shows its ample grace | F |
| And warmly tints each hazel tress | K |
| Curled soft around her face | F |
| The beauty that in youth he wooed | L |
| Is beauty still unfaded | L |
| The brow of ever placid mood | L |
| No churlish grief has shaded | L |
| - | |
| Prosperity in Gilbert's home | M |
| Abides the guest of years | N |
| There Want or Discord never come | O |
| And seldom Toil or Tears | P |
| The carpets bear the peaceful print | L |
| Of comfort's velvet tread | L |
| And golden gleams from plenty sent | L |
| In every nook are shed | L |
| - | |
| The very silken spaniel seems | Q |
| Of quiet ease to tell | R |
| As near its mistress' feet it dreams | Q |
| Sunk in a cushion's swell | R |
| And smiles seem native to the eyes | S |
| Of those sweet children three | E |
| They have but looked on tranquil skies | S |
| And know not misery | E |
| - | |
| Alas that Misery should come | O |
| In such an hour as this | T |
| Why could she not so calm a home | M |
| A little longer miss | T |
| But she is now within the door | U |
| Her steps advancing glide | L |
| Her sullen shade has crossed the floor | U |
| She stands at Gilbert's side | L |
| - | |
| She lays her hand upon his heart | L |
| It bounds with agony | E |
| His fireside chair shakes with the start | L |
| That shook the garden tree | E |
| His wife towards the children looks | V |
| She does not mark his mien | G |
| The children bending o'er their books | V |
| His terror have not seen | G |
| - | |
| In his own home by his own hearth | W |
| He sits in solitude | L |
| And circled round with light and mirth | X |
| Cold horror chills his blood | L |
| His mind would hold with desperate clutch | Y |
| The scene that round him lies | S |
| No changed as by some wizard's touch | Y |
| The present prospect flies | S |
| - | |
| A tumult vague a viewless strife | H |
| His futile struggles crush | Z |
| 'Twixt him and his an unknown life | H |
| And unknown feelings rush | Z |
| He sees but scarce can language paint | L |
| The tissue fancy weaves | A2 |
| For words oft give but echo faint | L |
| Of thoughts the mind conceives | A2 |
| - | |
| Noise tumult strange and darkness dim | B2 |
| Efface both light and quiet | L |
| No shape is in those shadows grim | B2 |
| No voice in that wild riot | L |
| Sustain'd and strong a wondrous blast | L |
| Above and round him blows | A2 |
| A greenish gloom dense overcast | L |
| Each moment denser grows | A2 |
| - | |
| He nothing knows nor clearly sees | A2 |
| Resistance checks his breath | C2 |
| The high impetuous ceaseless breeze | A2 |
| Blows on him cold as death | C2 |
| And still the undulating gloom | D2 |
| Mocks sight with formless motion | E2 |
| Was such sensation Jonah's doom | D2 |
| Gulphed in the depths of ocean | E2 |
| - | |
| Streaking the air the nameless vision | E2 |
| Fast driven deep sounding flows | A2 |
| Oh whence its source and what its mission | E2 |
| How will its terrors close | A2 |
| Long sweeping rushing vast and void | L |
| The universe it swallows | A2 |
| And still the dark devouring tide | L |
| A typhoon tempest follows | A2 |
| - | |
| More slow it rolls its furious race | A2 |
| Sinks to its solemn gliding | F2 |
| The stunning roar the wind's wild chase | A2 |
| To stillness are subsiding | F2 |
| And slowly borne along a form | G2 |
| The shapeless chaos varies | A2 |
| Poised in the eddy to the storm | G2 |
| Before the eye it tarries | A2 |
| - | |
| A woman drowned sunk in the deep | H2 |
| On a long wave reclining | F2 |
| The circling waters' crystal sweep | H2 |
| Like glass her shape enshrining | F2 |
| Her pale dead face to Gilbert turned | L |
| Seems as in sleep reposing | F2 |
| A feeble light now first discerned | L |
| The features well disclosing | F2 |
| - | |
| No effort from the haunted air | I |
| The ghastly scene could banish | I2 |
| That hovering wave arrested there | I |
| Rolled throbbed but did not vanish | I2 |
| If Gilbert upward turned his gaze | A2 |
| He saw the ocean shadow | L |
| If he looked down the endless seas | A2 |
| Lay green as summer meadow | L |
| - | |
| And straight before the pale corpse lay | J2 |
| Upborne by air or billow | L |
| So near he could have touched the spray | J2 |
| That churned around its pillow | L |
| The hollow anguish of the face | A2 |
| Had moved a fiend to sorrow | L |
| Not death's fixed calm could rase the trace | A2 |
| Of suffering's deep worn furrow | L |
| - | |
| All moved a strong returning blast | L |
| The mass of waters raising | F2 |
| Bore wave and passive carcase past | L |
| While Gilbert yet was gazing | F2 |
| Deep in her isle conceiving womb | D2 |
| It seemed the ocean thundered | L |
| And soon by realms of rushing gloom | D2 |
| Were seer and phantom sundered | L |
| - | |
| Then swept some timbers from a wreck | F2 |
| On following surges riding | F2 |
| Then sea weed in the turbid rack | F2 |
| Uptorn went slowly gliding | F2 |
| The horrid shade by slow degrees | A2 |
| A beam of light defeated | L |
| And then the roar of raving seas | A2 |
| Fast far and faint retreated | L |
| - | |
| And all was gone gone like a mist | L |
| Corse billows tempest wreck | F2 |
| Three children close to Gilbert prest | L |
| And clung around his neck | F2 |
| Good night good night the prattlers said | L |
| And kissed their father's cheek | F2 |
| 'Twas now the hour their quiet bed | L |
| And placid rest to seek | F2 |
| - | |
| The mother with her offspring goes | A2 |
| To hear their evening prayer | I |
| She nought of Gilbert's vision knows | A2 |
| And nought of his despair | I |
| Yet pitying God abridge the time | K2 |
| Of anguish now his fate | L |
| Though haply great has been his crime | K2 |
| Thy mercy too is great | L |
| - | |
| Gilbert at length uplifts his head | L |
| Bent for some moments low | L |
| And there is neither grief nor dread | L |
| Upon his subtle brow | L2 |
| For well can he his feelings task | F2 |
| And well his looks command | L |
| His features well his heart can mask | F2 |
| With smiles and smoothness bland | L |
| - | |
| Gilbert has reasoned with his mind | L |
| He says 'twas all a dream | M2 |
| He strives his inward sight to blind | L |
| Against truth's inward beam | M2 |
| He pitied not that shadowy thing | F2 |
| When it was flesh and blood | L |
| Nor now can pity's balmy spring | F2 |
| Refresh his arid mood | L |
| - | |
| And if that dream has spoken truth | N2 |
| Thus musingly he says | A2 |
| If Elinor be dead in sooth | N2 |
| Such chance the shock repays | A2 |
| A net was woven round my feet | L |
| I scarce could further go | L |
| Ere shame had forced a fast retreat | L |
| Dishonour brought me low | L |
| - | |
| Conceal her then deep silent sea | A2 |
| Give her a secret grave | O2 |
| She sleeps in peace and I am free | A2 |
| No longer terror's slave | O2 |
| And homage still from all the world | L |
| Shall greet my spotless name | P2 |
| Since surges break and waves are curled | L |
| Above its threatened shame | P2 |
Charlotte Bronte
(1)
Poem topics: , Print This Poem , Rhyme Scheme
Submit Spanish Translation
Submit German Translation
Submit French Translation
About The Parlour. (from Gilbert)
The Parlour. (from Gilbert) is a poem by Charlotte Bronte. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.
Write your comment about The Parlour. (from Gilbert) poem by Charlotte Bronte
Best Poems of Charlotte Bronte