To Cowper and other poems : autograph manuscript of 9 poems, signed, 1842–1845
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1900
The bare trees are tossing their branches on high;
The dead leaves beneath them are merrily dancing,
The white clouds are scudding across the blue sky.
I wish I could see how the ocean is lashing,
The foam of its billows to wirl winds of spray,
I wish I could see how its proud waves are dashing
And hear the wild roar of their thunder today!
A Brontë December 30th 1842
Comp Composed in the Long-Plantation on a wild bright windy day.
Text as published in Poems (1846)
The bare trees are tossing their branches on high;
The dead leaves, beneath them, are merrily dancing,
The white clouds are scudding across the blue sky.
I wish I could see how the ocean is lashing
The foam of its billows to whirlwinds of spray;
I wish I could see how its proud waves are dashing,
And hear the wild roar of their thunder today!
[“My soul is awakened”] (pp. 6–7)
Dated 30 December 1842, when Brontë was twenty-two. First published in Poems (1846) with title “Lines Composed in a Wood on a Windy Day.” Poem 21 in Chitham (1979).