Skip to content
QuillOak

Lyric Poem · Nature

Sympathy

by Emily Brontë

1There should be no despair for you

2While nightly stars are burning,

3While evening pours its silent dew

4And sunshine gilds the morning.

5There should be no despair - though tears

6May flow down like a river:

7Are not the best beloved of years

8Around your heart forever?

9They weep - you weep - it must be so;

10Winds sigh as you are sighing,

11And Winter sheds his grief in snow

12Where Autumn's leaves are lying:

13Yet these revive, and from their fate

14Your fate cannot be parted,

15Then journey on, if not elate,

16Still, never broken-hearted!

Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.

Quick facts

Poem
Sympathy
Poet
Emily Brontë
Length
16 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Nature, Sad, Winter

Craft notes

How this poem works

Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape
16 lines · 2 octaves
Line length
Lines run 6-8 syllables (median 8), consistent with tetrameter. No single length dominates, which is normal once elision and contraction are in play.
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a lyric poem, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake

Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record
Emily Brontë1818–1848
Source record
PoetryDBSympathy by emily-bronte, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision
Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record
Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint
SHA-256 8db85a5aa8ea8eb8
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
Jurisdiction-specific, never a worldwide claimRights policyReport a text or rights issue

More poems like this

More nature poems