Shall earth no more inspire thee by Emile Bronte

• Structure


  • 7 quatrains
  • Regular structure
  • Regular rhyme scheme
  • Iambic
  • First person
• Regular strucutre and rhyme scheme

  • Calming
  • Sense of gentleness and soothing
• Shall earth no more inspire thee


  • "earth" not capitalised
  • not important to the subject
  • sadness, despair
  • no punctuation
  • statement
  • offering advice
• Thou lonely dreamer now?


  • someone emotionally lost
  • talking to someone creative?
  • rhetorical question
• Since passion may not fire thee

  • metaphor
• Shall Nature cease to bow?


  • rhetorical question
  • "Nature" capitalised
  • contrast to earlier
  • personification
  • important to the speaker
• Thy mind is ever moving / In regions dark to thee


  • metaphor
  • not a good state of mind
  • instability
  • talking to someone else
• Recall its useless roving -

  • aggression
• Come back and dwell with me

  • imperative
  • commannding?
  • nature talking to someone?
  • romantic relationship?
• Despite thy wayward will

  • alliteration
  • calming
• I know... I know... I know... I know...

  • repetition
  • trying to convince the other person?
• I've seen thy spirit bending / In fond idolatry


  • religious connotations
  • slant rhyme
  • massively disrupts rhythm
  • "idolatry" disrupts the regular love that the speaker has for the subject
  • jealousy?
  • putting something else above nature?
  • the speaker wants the subject to focus on them
  • sibilance
• Yet none would ask a heaven / more like this earth than thine


  • religious connotations
  • alliteration (this earth than thine)
  • wordy - you have to slow down to say ot
• Then let my winds caress thee;

  • natural imagery
  • soothing, gentle
  • like a pair of hands
  • sense of sympathy for the subject
• Return and dwell with me

  • repetition
  • really trying to convince the subject
  • persuasion
• Link to

  • Lines Written in Early Spring