Sunday, January 17, 2021

Writers’ Pantry #53: The Bicentenary of Anne Brontë’s Birth

Greetings, dear poets and storytellers. I hope you and your muse are having a good day. If not, well… then let us make each other’s day a bit better through words.

One of the gazillion literary trivia sites I follow informed me that today is Anne Brontë’s birthday. Yep, if she had still been with us, she would’ve been turning 200 (and very likely be suspected of vampirism). When I was done reading about her accomplishments—novels, a book of poems with her sisters—I realized that I have never read anything by her. I shall remedy that soon. I just have to decide if I want to start with Agnes Grey or The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. Have you read them? If so, which would you recommend I read first?

In the meantime, here are some of the lady’s words:

“The ties that bind us to life are tougher than you imagine, or than any one can who has not felt how roughly they may be pulled without breaking.” ~ from Agnes Grey

Oh, Youth may listen patiently,
While sad Experience tells her tale,
But Doubt sits smiling in his eye,
For ardent Hope will still prevail!

~ from “Views of Life”

And because today is also the second anniversary of Mary Oliver’s death, here are a few lines from our beloved Mary (which brighten my day whenever loss shrouds it in gloom):

“maybe death
isn’t darkness, after all,
but so much light
wrapping itself around us”
~ from Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays

Now, the Writers’ Pantry is open for word yumminess. Add your poetry or prose, new or old, short or long(is), jolly or growly; the choice is always yours. If you choose to delight us with your prose, let the word count be 369 words or fewer.

Please remember to add the direct link to your contribution, not just the link to your blog. That way we can find your post easily, especially if it takes us a few days to visit you. Take a moment to visit other participants, and let them know what their words do for you. As always, Mr. Linky will remain open for a week.

- for our next Weekly Scribblings, Rommy would like us to create new poetry or prose using one (or as many as we want) of the poetic terms she selected out of Bruce Hamana Sosei’s book, 100 Beautiful Words in The Way of Tea, which we can find in this link.

Let us write. Let us read. Let us grow and grow (with words).


Anne Brontë (at age 13) sketched by her sister, Charlotte Brontë

19 comments:

  1. Ah, thanks for the reminder. Anne is the one of the Bronte sisters I haven't read, although I have read absolutely everything by Charlotte and Emily. Definitely time I rectified that! So I can't tell you which novel to read first as I too will be tackling both. I'll probably try to read them in the order in which they were first published.
    What an incredibly talented family! That sketch of Anne by Charlotte is amazingly good.
    And thank you for those lovely lines by Mary Oliver. What a pure genuis she was too.

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    1. I was looking around, and it seems we aren't the only ones who have read the works of Charlotte and Emily but not those of Anne. My Piano Man's parents gave me an illustrated boxed edition of the works of "the Brontë Sisters". You'd think that including all the sisters would've made more sense. I wonder why she hasn't been promoted as much. I guess reading her words might give us an idea. Also, reading them in order of publication sounds like a great idea.

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    2. I just had a look on Wikipedia. It appears her writing was under-valued in its time (including by her sister Charlotte) for its radical feminism! Apparently her time has finally come, so we are right on cue to read her now.

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  2. As it's Anne's bicentenary, I haven't linked a poem. Instead I thought I'd start a serialisation of a story I wrote last year. Thanks for the reminder, Magaly!

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    1. Wonderful! Can't wait to read it, Kim. Your web serials are always so yummy.

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  3. Happy Sunday to all. Thanks for a lovely pantry today Magaly

    much love...

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    1. You're welcome, Gillena. And Happy Sunday to you, too.

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  4. Good day, everyone!
    The rains have stopped, the past few days have been sunny over here. 🌞

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    1. Yay, for sunniness! The sun made a short appearance in NYC earlier, but it's now playing hide and go seek behind the clouds.

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    2. Still lots of rain in my bit of Australia. 'Good for the garden,' we say, trying to ignore the way the weeds are growing apace.

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  5. Shared a funny from 2013! Happy Sunday all .....

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    1. Thank you, Helen. I'm always up for anything that entices a bit of laughter!

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  6. Happy Sunday, everyone! Wrote a sonnet yesterday and am sharing it today.

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  7. Happy Sunday Magaly and all! Hope 2021 is beginning well for everyone, and that it proves to be a wonderful year.

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  8. I remember only reading Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but I sure remembered to visit Anne's grave in St. Mary's Church - very first thing I did as soon as I got out of Heathrow when I visited the UK many years ago. The feeling was awesome.

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    1. There is something powerful about visiting the place of rest of someone gifted and admired. I remember feeling nearly giddy when I visited Edgar Allan Poe's grave. Deeply awesome, indeed.

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