But the skies hang full and dark--a wrack sails from the west. Peace,
peace, Banshee--"keening" at every window. The storm did not cease till
the Atlantic was strewn with wrecks. Peace, be still! Oh, a thousand
weepers, praying in agony on waiting shores, listened for that voice;
but when the sun returned, his light was night to some!
Here pause. Enough is said. Trouble no kind heart. Leave sunny
imaginations hope. Let them picture union and a happy life.
* * * * *
EMILY BRONTË
Wuthering Heights
"That chainless soul," Emily Jane Brontë, was born at
Thornton, Yorkshire, England, on August 30, 1818, and died at
Haworth on December 19, 1848. She will always have a place in
English literature by reason of her one weird, powerful,
strained novel, "Wuthering Heights," and a few poems. Emily
Brontë, like her sister Charlotte, was educated at Cowan
School and at Brussels. For a time she became a governess, but
it seemed impossible for her to live away from the fascination
of the Yorkshire moors, and she went home to keep house at the
Haworth Parsonage, while her sisters taught. Two months after
the publication of "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte, that is, in
December, 1847, "Wuthering Heights," by Emily, and "Agnes
Grey," by Anne, the third sister in this remarkable trio, were
issued in one volume. The critics, who did not discover these
books were by women, suggested persistently that "Wuthering
Heights" must be an immature work by Currer Bell (Charlotte).
A year after the publication of her novel Emily died, unaware
of her success in achieving a lasting, if restricted, fame.
She was extraordinarily reserved, sensitive, and wayward, and
lived in an imagined world of her own, morbidly influenced, no
doubt, by the vagaries of her worthless brother Branwell. That
she had true genius, allied with fine strength of intellect
and character, is the unanimous verdict of competent
criticism, while it grieves over unfulfilled possibilities.
_I.--A Surly Brood_
"Mr. Heathcliff?"
A nod was the answer.
"Mr. Lockwood, your new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, sir."
"Walk in." But the invitation, uttered with closed teeth, expressed the
sentiment "Go to the deuce!" And it was not till my horse's breast
fairly pushed the barrier that he put out his hand to unchain it. I felt
interested in a man who seemed more exaggeratedly reserved than myself
as he preceded me up the causeway, calling, "Joseph, take Mr. Lockwood's
horse; and bring up some wine."
Joseph was an old man, very old, though hale and sinewy. "The Lord help
us!" he soliloquised in an undertone as he relieved me of my horse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account