Lyric Poem · Nature
Sympathy
by Emily Brontë
There should be no despair for you
While nightly stars are burning,
While evening pours its silent dew
And sunshine gilds the morning.
There should be no despair - though tears
May flow down like a river:
Are not the best beloved of years
Around your heart forever?
They weep - you weep - it must be so;
Winds sigh as you are sighing,
And Winter sheds his grief in snow
Where Autumn's leaves are lying:
Yet these revive, and from their fate
Your fate cannot be parted,
Then journey on, if not elate,
Still, never broken-hearted!
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“Sympathy” by Emily Brontë — quilloak.com/poems/sympathy-bronte
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.
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.
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