What are your thoughts on Emily Brontë’s marvellous poem?

One of my favorite recent quotes on the defense of stoicism is: 'control your emotions' doesn't mean 'don't feel your emotions.' It means 'feel your shit, face your shit, but don't _lose_ your shit.'

Powerful. The layering of contexts of Epictetus and Heights beams this composition through an intricate prism. Having you as a guide deepens the experience. The multiplicity of function in plays of words is teased out so fully in these close readings. Your point about the rhythmic inversion is an alteration I would have missed. The philosophical contrasts being leveled is another gripping aspect of this that expands an otherwise casual musing into a moment of pure contemplation. Hopefully something of this poem will dissolve into something yet to be created. Thank you, Dr.

Brilliant as always. Thank you. I didnt think it was possible but I love Emily Bronte even more now

Thank you for this insightful and academic treatment of Emily Brontë's poem. I never looked upon it from a Stoic angle, so this video definitely added a layer to my understanding of it. Interestingly, you added Charlotte's assessment of her sister, which comes across as rather condescending. At any rate seems to clash with the opinion of Mr. Heger, the Brussels teacher, who praises Emily's "powerful reason". Indeed, what first struck me in this poem is its independent spirituality, which first and foremost appears to be inspired by observations of nature and the cosmos, rather than biblical doctrine. This is very remarkable for a clergyman's daughter, who lived in a comparatively small world. Wuthering Heights is to me a further indication of Emily's cosmic spirituality as well as her independent mind in creating characters that can be seen as forces of nature, giving the novel its almost shockingly pagan quality. This capacity of "thinking outside the box" is in my view a quality Emily shared with Anne.

Emily was just so brilliant! Loved this video and how you broke her poem down and explained it ... I've read this poem before but never understood it as well or got as much meaning out of it as I have after watching your video. Thank you very much!

thanks. very enlightening. i must confess i haven't read bronte's poems. also while i have read some stoic and other philosophical works, i am unfamiliar with elizabeth carter's or hester chapone’s works. so this a new future path of reading and reflection for me.

I do not dissent from any of thee comments on this Video. I think this study is one of the most competent and profound discussion of this poem. I have have always preferred Emily Bronte as a poet to a novelist but I had not understood this poem hitherto and we owe an immense debt of gratitude for this most brilliant treatment of this remarkable poem. She [Dr. Cox] augments the stature of this poem. I might almost this study is the most definitive exposition of this poem. I think it might be placed in juxtaposition with Arnold's 'Dover Beach'

I feel very fortunate to have "stumbled" upon a channel so magnificently subjected, as being totally devoted to prose and the fact that a channel, such as this will only expand my sense of what great writing can be and is. With me being a newly devoted practitioner to the fine artistry as well craft of writing, while long possessing the upmost profound love of literature and alike the art of well written prose, these readings have absolutely captured me, my full attention and as well love for your readings, and all of this will only suit my needs in making me a well grounded prose artist as well, so once again my greatest amount of thanks will be rationed off to you, for introduction to this insightful enterprise of mind expanding works from some of the greats in the history of the written word.

I would have read this as entirely having a basis in Christianity; Bronte being a stoic adds an interesting layer to it

All this is new for me; a different view of these classics that I've read and reread regularly! I've never studied the inner mechanisms of literature but still find your posts like little expeditions! Thank you!

Dear Dr Cox, Thank you for this illuminating study. It is so generous of you to share your knowledge of English literature. Yours sincerely, Helen Welch (Australia)

Always wanted to learn about Bronte's poetry! Great video

Thank you for helping me to better understand one of Emily's most wonderful poems.

Thank you for a most interesting analysis. Your explanations are lucid and so thoughtful

Emily Bronte is my favorite ❤️❤️ this was magnificent thank you

amazing analysis. my professor ruined my understanding of Emily Bronte and trust me you moulded it so well for me.

What a hero she was. Thanks.

Argh.. her take on the fear of death and how it impacts our lives is so correct.

thank you, Dr. Cox

There are so many echoes of Biblical verses in this poem. So many words from St Luke (the song of Zaccharias says that we will serve God without fear), St Paul (the fight of faith, God within), St Jude (froth, weed, anchor), the first epistle general of John, the psalms (the rock), Revelation (no cowatd enters heaven.) and even the books of Moses (the spirit of God brooded over the waters. "Moved" is brood in Hebrew).

Thank you for this video, and for your generous sharing of your expertise in all of your videos. I found you only recently and I'm so enjoying your analyses of Jane Austen's and the Brontës' writings, with your powerful addition of important cultural and sociological context. And now I have to go looking for more about Elizabeth Carter, too! As a former academic classicist myself, I'm surprised I've never before heard of this particular female pioneer in the field. Her knowledge of Classical Greek must have surpassed that of most males even at a time when it was common for males to study it at school.

Thank you for sharing the poem. Now I have to learn it by heart.

wooo hooo! More Emily Brontë :D I can't wait to watch this!!

Hi Dr. Cox! I adore your P&P videos (probably because I am such a huge fan of that masterful work and admittedly it’s the only one I’ve read from the material you usually cover! Lol) are there other topics on P&P that you haven’t yet covered but would want to discuss? I realize while I’m writing this that you covered so many key elements of the story already. I guess I would like to know more about the Gardiner’s (why are they such a good family?), the Bingley sisters (why are they so mean inside lol), what would probably have happened to Mary and Kitty after the end of the story, a deep dive into Lady Catherine’s character and what Austen was trying to critique with the character? Do you think Austen saw any of Lizzie in herself like Emma Woodhouse? just a few ideas! Thanks for the great content.

Great video! Want more!

Thank you for this wonderful explanation of the poem. I learned English by learning poems and songs by heart, thus my language used to be a bit archaic. I was wondering whether it would be too much trouble for you to list the literary devices you illustrated in this video in the description of the video? Thank you for posting your videos.

So interesting how the rhythm is as important as the words in how we understand and feel it. That might explain why those poems we all write as children never really feel full

Brontë refers to stoic ideals in a lot of her works. She stands apart from her sisters in her understanding of human nature that the ideal is to be fully formed in personality and interactive with nature.

Wonderfully explained, thank you

I never thought that there was any notion whatsoever - historical or contemporary - of women being capable of stoicism. The way we women are treated in the (in)justice system - if you show emotion, you're automatically 'hysterical,' but if you maintain composure, you're branded 'cold' or even 'psychotic' - absolutely precludes the suggestion that women are anything but controlled outright by the constant storm surge of unhinged emotion.

In highschool, when we used to do poetry analysis and write pages of interpretation on a single line of poem, some kids would always ask the teacher "but do you think the poet put half as much thought into this, as we are, unraveling it"? And I always oscillated between yes and no. So I wonder, did Emily (or any poet) knowingly arrange every syllable of every word, as neatly as we see it in the final product, or was some of it subconscious, or lucky?

I didn't realize that Bronte was a philosophical Stoic. Edit: did she resolve the philosophical materialism of Stoicism with the theological dualism of christianity?

An exemplary analysis!

Your explanation is superb, unfortunately our instructor explain this poem from feminist perspective which is a Vain attempt. I learned a lot, Thank You. This reflects the escapism of Emily Brontë from the difficulties of life and she comfort herself by believing in God and afterlife.

Amazing!

Would enjoy a video comparing EB's philosophy with George Eliot's.

I just finished reading Wuthering Heights and Emily Bronte's poems. I get the feeling Emily's Christianity differs from Charlotte's. From reading the novel and the poems, I never got the feeling she was an ashiest, but that maybe she found that Anglican church she attended too suffocating. I get this feeling she preferred or practice a type of Christian mysticism. That all she needed was herself and God, she didn't a minister or church to be an intermediary between herself and God. This is just what I felt reading her words. I could be dead wrong.

This is by no means a criticism, and I love everything you do, but I recently read that that profile portrait is now thought to be of Anne rather than Emily. Truly a shame we don't have more portraits of these ladies!

have you done a full analysis of "Wuthering Hieghts"?

9:00. A little correction. It is "impious pride", not "imperious pride".

3:35 eh·puhk·tEE·tuhs

Have you heard of the book, "The Poetic World of Emily Bronte?"

can i know this type of poetic form?? It is closed form ?

5:40

I really am tempted to send you a hair clip😃

'God is within so virtue is within' - How can the Stoics be accused of pride if they recognise that it is God within who is virtuous and not themselves? God acts within the human and the human is merely a receptacle for God to act in, and the receptacle is in God. Does Emily Bronte draw a parallel to this by getting Catherine to state the author is within the character and the character is within the author? If this is so, I don't understand why Catherine says that she is Heathcliff as she is not his author/creator. I can't fathom whether Emily Bronte believes that God and the receptacle (ie. the human being) are separate entities or fused into one. If they are the latter, then at death, they both die.. I'm not clear.

Girlfriend telling it like it is! What greater 'vainglory' is there but melodrama? The most flowery but powerful way of saying 'get over yourself' I've ever heard. Why would God ask us to glorify Him by debasing ourselves? Wouldn't it glorify him more to have children who could will themselves to greatness by 'putting off the natural man'? As a parent, I'd be more gratified by seeing my children rise from primordial sludge - to make themselves honorable and veritable mortal-gods with very little coaching from me - than to see them fail to measure up to my benchmark as a sacrifice to my superiority.