CHEZKA’S PART: Charlotte Bronte

 English novelist, and poet, as well as the eldest of

the three literary Bronte sisters.
 Charlotte Bronte was born on April 21, 1816 in
the village of Thornton, West Riding Yorkshire.
 Charlotte Bronte siblings are Maria, Elizabeth,
Patrick, Emily, and Anne. Her sisters Emily and
Anne were also wrote romantic novels.
 Charlotte Bronte is best known for her novels,
including Jane Eyre in October 16, 1847.

Short Summary:

As an orphaned child, Jane Eyre is first cruelly abused by her aunt, then cast out
and sent to a charity school. Though she meets with further abuse, she receives an
education, and eventually takes a job as a governess at the estate of Edward
Rochester. Jane and Rochester begin to bond, but his dark moods trouble her.
When Jane uncovers the terrible secret Rochester has been hiding, she flees and
finds temporary refuge at the home of St. John Rivers.
Jane Eyre Excerpts:
About Love:

“I would always rather be happy than dignified.” - Jane Eyre, Chapter 34

“Every atom of your flesh is as dear to me as my own: in pain and sickness it would still be dear. Your
mind is my treasure, and if it were broken, it would be my treasure still.” – Mr Rochester Chapter 27

On Morality and Religion:

“Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the
last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impious hand to the Crown of
Thorns.”

“Feeling without judgement is a washy draught indeed; but judgement untempered by feeling is too
bitter and husky a morsel for human deglutition.”

About Life:

“It is always the way of events in this life…no sooner have you got settled in a pleasant resting place,
than a voice calls out to you to rise and move on, for the hour of repose is expired.”

“I remembered that the real world was wide, and that a varied field of hopes and fears, of sensations
and excitements, awaited those who had the courage to go forth into it’s expanse, to seek real
knowledge of life amidst it’s perils.”

ON THE POETRY OF THE UNIVERSE

“Night was come, and her planets were risen: a safe, still night: too serene for the companionship of
fear. We know that God is everywhere; but certainly we feel His presence most when His works are on
the grandest scale spread before us; and it is in the unclouded night-sky, where His worlds wheel their
silent course, that we read clearest His infinitude, His omnipotence, His omnipresence.”

POEMS:

Life
Life, believe, is not a dream

So dark as sages say;

Oft a little morning rain

Foretells a pleasant day.

Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,

But these are transient all;

If the shower will make the roses bloom,

O why lament its fall?

Rapidly, merrily,

Life’s sunny hours flit by,

Gratefully, cheerily,

Enjoy them as they fly!

What though Death at times steps in

And calls our Best away?

What though sorrow seems to win,

O’er hope, a heavy sway?

Yet hope again elastic springs,

Unconquered, though she fell;

Still buoyant are her golden wings,

Still strong to bear us well.

Manfully, fearlessly,

The day of trial bear,

For gloriously, victoriously,

Can courage quell despair!

Parting
There’s no use in weeping,

Though we are condemned to part:

There’s such a thing as keeping

A remembrance in one’s heart:

There’s such a thing as dwelling

On the thought ourselves have nursed,

And with scorn and courage telling

The world to do its worst.

We’ll not let its follies grieve us,

We’ll just take them as they come;

And then every day will leave us

A merry laugh for home.

When we’ve left each friend and brother,

When we’re parted wide and far,

We will think of one another,

As even better than we are.

Every glorious sight above us,

Every pleasant sight beneath,

We’ll connect with those that love us,

Whom we truly love till death!

In the evening, when we’re sitting

By the fire, perchance alone,

Then shall heart with warm heart meeting,

Give responsive tone for tone.

We can burst the bonds which chain us,

Which cold human hands have wrought,

And where none shall dare restrain us

We can meet again, in thought.

So there’s no use in weeping,

Bear a cheerful spirit still;

Never doubt that Fate is keeping

Future good for present ill!