Emily Brontë
1818-1848 19th century
Faith held alone, with no consolation asked of anyone.
Who was Emily Brontë?
The most secret of the Brontë sisters kept house at the Haworth parsonage, kneaded bread while revising her German, and could bear neither school nor a governess's post beyond a few months. Since childhood she had been writing the chronicle of an invented kingdom, which no one knew about until Charlotte came upon her notebooks by chance. She published one novel, Wuthering Heights, and died at thirty, three months after her brother, having refused to the last day to see a doctor.
In their own words
No coward soul is mine, no trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere: I see Heaven's glories shine, and faith shines equal, arming me from fear.
O God within my breast, almighty, ever-present Deity. Life, that in me has rest, as I, undying Life, have power in Thee.
There is not room for Death, nor atom that his might could render void: Thou, Thou art Being and Breath, and what Thou art may never be destroyed.
Riches I hold in light esteem, and Love I laugh to scorn; and lust of fame was but a dream that vanished with the morn.