The Visionary
Emily Brontë
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
LibriVox volunteers bring you 18 recordings of "The Visionary" by Ellis Bell (Emily Brontë). This was the weekly poem for January 1, 2012.
The first 12 lines originally appeared in one of a large group of Gondal poems, the word coming from the name of a fictitious island kingdom in a fantasy created by Emily and her sister Anne. When Emily finally consented to have some of her poems published in 1846, along with those of sisters Charlotte and Anne, she selected parts of the Gondal poems and removed all reference to the fantasy land. However, this poem first appeared in a new, expanded edition of the sisters' poetry (in 1850, after both Emily and Anne had died) and was apparently derived as follows:
"The Visionary (October 9, 1845)
This poem is part of the same Gondal poem from which Emily carved "The Prisoner. A Fragment." Charlotte Brontë took lines 1-12 of Emily's original poem, "Julian M. and A.G Rochelle," and added 8 lines of her own. Thus, the positive ending in which the watcher has a spiritual experience is Charlotte's and the watcher may be seen as Emily rather than a Gondal character. In Charlotte's version, it is hard to explain the guiding light in the window of stanza 2."
This account is fully supported by other sources. So the poem, as it was published in 1850, is a combination of work by Emily and Charlotte. Charlotte is accused by critics of using a heavy hand in editing some of Emily's formerly unpublished poems for the 1850 volume. (Introduction by Leonard Wilson) (0 hr 33 min)
Chapters
The Visionary - Read by AGB | 1:35 | Read by Abigail Bartels |
The Visionary - Read by DII | 1:36 | Read by Diana Majlinger |
The Visionary - Read by DL | 1:48 | Read by David Lawrence |
The Visionary - Read by DT | 1:43 | Read by Andee |
The Visionary - Read by EP | 1:52 | Read by loubet |
The Visionary - Read by FS | 2:05 | Read by fshort |
The Visionary - Read by GC | 1:40 | Read by Snapdragon |
The Visionary - Read by GHS | 1:46 | Read by Algy Pug |
The Visionary - Read by JBS | 2:00 | Read by JemmaBlythe |
The Visionary - Read by JCM | 1:41 | Read by Jason Mills |
The Visionary - Read by KG | 1:44 | Read by Kristin G. |
The Visionary - Read by KN | 2:15 | Read by Kasper |
The Visionary - Read by LAH | 1:55 | Read by Lee Ann Howlett |
The Visionary - Read by LLW | 2:04 | Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024) |
The Visionary - Read by NLB | 1:49 | Read by NoelBadrian |
The Visionary - Read by PD | 1:36 | Read by 2thepiper |
The Visionary - Read by REF | 1:54 | Read by Rhonda Federman |
The Visionary - Read by RN | 2:08 | Read by ravenotation |