Cottage Poems

Patrick Bronte's 'Cottage Poems' are very much of their time, written by a sincere evangelical churchman who tries to reconcile his poorest parishioners to their lot, assuming that one's 'lot' is assigned by God, and that resignation to it is not only a duty but a path to heavenly reward. The verses are very competently composed in regular rhyming stanzas and have a pleasing fluency. Nowadays they are read only because he was the father of the famous Bronte sisters, but the poems demonstrate that outside sources were not the only influence on them. Patrick's verses show an easy familiarity with current tropes, allusions and common metrical conventions, and above all showed his daughters that publication was possible even for writers of humble background.