Life By Charlotte Bronte Mood

Although Charlotte Bronte has long perished, her emotions and thoughts still live. As clichéd as it sounds, poetry has the power to surpass it’s mortal creator and become an eternal glimpse into the poet’s soul. Although this observation is no secret, it should not be overlooked. It is such a potent and remarkable concept that when one reads a poem they are literally getting the condensed and encrypted emotions left behind to be interpreted. While not tangible, poetry has the power to communicate emotions across an indefinite time-space by using three things: diction, syntax, and tone. By using these three techniques, Bronte effectively showcases her emotions in her poem “Life”.
One of the ways Bronte executes her thoughts and emotions in
“Life” is through diction. Since the poem was written near the beginning of the Victorian era, the words Bronte uses to express herself are a mixture of formal and colloquial – colloquial for the 1800s that is. This formality can be seen in the first two lines of the poem when she says, “Life, believe, is not a dream, so dark as sages say” (Lines 1&2), instead of just plainly stating that life is not black and white. However, she then goes on in a more colloquial fashion when she says “If the shower will make the roses bloom, O why lament its fall?” (Lines 7&8) which means that “if rain makes roses bloom, why feel saddened when it rains?” Although at times formal, the sincerity of the emotions conveyed is apparent due to the intertwining of colloquialism throughout the poem.
The next way Bronte shapes her poem is by using syntax to create a flow and rhythm in the poem. By using adjectives consecutively in a few lines, she creates chants of inspiration that happen sporadically. These chants of inspirational adjectives can be seen many times, for example, “Rapidly, merrily” (Line 9) and again at “Gratefully, cheerily” (Line 11). These chants create an environment of positivity with it’s bouncy rhythm. This in turn adds to the effect that Bronte was going for – to cheer up the reader despite the negative situations that life throws at one sometimes. Although these chants of positivity are scattered throughout the poem, the poem follows the rhyme scheme, a,b, a, b, c, d, c, d, ect… This rhythm only adds to the bubbliness of the poem, making it an inspirational and uplifting one. Like an accelerating engine, it is as if every line becomes more intense and uplifting as the rhythm and rhyming continue throughout the poem.
The final technique Bronte uses to relay her emotions and thoughts is tone.
When Bronte wrote this poem in 1848 she had already experienced the death of all of her siblings and her mother. Instead of absolutely cursing and scorning life, Bronte saw the positivity in life’s trials, and therefore exuded a tone of wisdom and authority throughout the entirety of the poem. Although wisdom is the underlying tone, there are two other tones that hover above it – one being a contrast between the dark and bright moments of life, while the other being how hope is powerful enough to lift one up during dark times. This can be seen in lines one through twelve as Bronte says “Sometimes there are clouds of gloom, but these are transient all,” (Lines 5&6) and then transitions into the theme of home “Yet Hope again elastic springs,” (Line 17). Lines 1 through 12 contrast the rain, dark, gloomy day – which can represent life's hardships – with the sunny, wonderful day that can also come in this world, even right after the gloomy day--and cause roses to bloom. In other words, Bronte is saying not to stress because things will always get better. In lines 13 to the 24 there is a slight shift in tone that transitions into a more positive one that reiterates how hope can cure one of despair and overcome any
obstacle.
All in all, Bronte effectively exercises diction, syntax, and tone to convey her emotions across an audience that will range time itself. The combination of interweaving diction, bouncy syntax, and uplifting tone all add up to create a powerful and inspirational poem. Despite her many grueling hardships in life, Bronte was able to mature from her situation and adopt a positive outlook that, to this day, influences and encourages others to always have hope and realize that there is always a silver lining.
Figurative language is what makes poetry come to life. It changes words from something that could be read in the ingredients section on the back of a bag of chips, into something that becomes larger than life. Simply put, figurative language allows poets to express their thoughts not by language but by metaphorical and symbolic imagery. This method, if used properly, can create different meanings from one person to another because we see things differently.