Speaker

The speaker of "On the Death of Anne Brontë" is unnamed, but the poem is likely an autobiographical lyric expressing Charlotte Brontë's grief over her sister's passing. Throughout the poem, Brontë’s tone is generally pained and full of suffering towards the death of her sister, which has left Brontë “benighted, tempest-tossed,” left to “bear alone the weary strife” (15-16). However, Brontë’s tone becomes ironic in the third stanza, when she mentions the expectation that she “thank God from [her] heart, / To thank Him well and fervently” (11-12). Here, the speaker struggles with the notion that God is to be thanked for depriving her of her sister. The speaker of the poem, whether Charlottes Brontë specifically or an unnamed person experiencing loss, dramatizes the challenges of sadness, frustration, and doubt that are associated with the grieving process.

Anne Brontë

Another character in the poem is Bront...