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.
Use these links when you want to inspect the wording in its wider work or edition.
“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.
“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.
“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.
