1820–1849

Introduction

portrait

Born: Ja­nu­ary 17, 1820, Thorn­ton, Eng­land.

Died: May 28, 1849, Scar­bo­rough, Eng­land.

Buried: St. Ma­ry’s church­yard, Scar­bor­ough, Eng­land.

Pseudonym: Ac­ton Bell.

Biography

Anne was the young­est daugh­ter of Pat­rick Bron­te, in­cum­bent of Ha­worth, West York­shire.

She was one of the fa­mous Bron­të sis­ters, per­haps the best known li­ter­ary fa­mi­ly of 19th Cen­tu­ry Eng­land.

Works

Poem

Vanitas Vanitatum, Omnia Vanitas

Vanity of vanities; all is vanity. Ecclesiastes 1:2

In all we do, and hear, and see,
Is restless Toil and Vanity.
While yet the rolling earth abides,
Men come and go like ocean tides;

And ere one generation dies,
Another in its place shall rise;
That, sinking soon into the grave,
Others succeed, like wave on wave;

And as they rise, they pass away.
The sun arises every day,
And, hastening onward to the West,
He nightly sinks, but not to rest:

Returning to the eastern skies,
Again to light us, he must rise.
And still the restless wind comes forth,
Now blowing keenly from the North;

Now from the South, the East, the West,
For ever changing, ne’er at rest.
The fountains, gushing from the hills,
Supply the ever-running rills;

The thirsty rivers drink their store,
And bear it rolling to the shore,
But still the ocean craves for more.
’Tis endless labor everywhere!
Sound cannot satisfy the ear,

Light cannot fill the craving eye,
Nor riches half our wants supply;
Pleasure but doubles future pain,
And joy brings sorrow in her train;

Laughter is mad, and reckless mirth—
What does she in this weary earth?
Should Wealth, or Fame, our Life employ,
Death comes, our labor to destroy;

To snatch the untasted cup away,
For which we toiled so many a day.
What, then, remains for wretched man?
To use life’s comforts while he can,

Enjoy the blessings Heav’n bestows,
Assist his friends, forgive his foes;
Trust God, and keep His statutes still,
Upright and firm, through good and ill;

Thankful for all that God has giv’n,
Fixing his firmest hopes on Heav’n;
Knowing that earthly joys decay,
But hoping through the darkest day.

Anne Brontë, Poems by
Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell, 1846

Sources

Lyrics