2 quotations linked to The Old Stoic — Emily Brontë by or associated with Emily Brontë, with source notes, explanations and related topics.
Freedom, detachment from wealth and fame, inward independence, courage and endurance in life and death.
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“In life and death a chainless soul, With courage to endure.”
The closing wish joins freedom with endurance, defining courage not as control over events but as keeping the soul unchained through them.
Source note: “The Old Stoic,” Project Gutenberg #1019. This is the poem’s closing aspiration and remains a literary statement rather than medical or psychological guidance.
“Riches I hold in light esteem, And Love I laugh to scorn; And lust of fame was but a dream, That vanished with the morn.”
The speaker strips wealth, romantic attachment and fame of ultimate authority in order to define freedom through an inwardly independent stance.
Source note: “The Old Stoic,” in Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell; Project Gutenberg #1019. The poem uses a deliberately severe persona and should not be treated as a complete ethical system.