Who is Anne Brontë from the poem, On the Death of Anne Brontë?

Anne Brontë is Brontë’s sister. She receives a brief description in the second stanza. On her deathbed, she experiences “failing breath” and “[sighing]” (5). This depiction of Anne on her deathbed suggests a scene of calm and stillness, a portrait that contrasts with the language of violence and chaos Brontë uses to describe her own experience of watching her sister die. This contrast emphasizes the difference between what is happening in Brontë’s surroundings and the pain she experiences internally. Brontë also characterizes Anne as possessing “belovèd features” and being the “hope and glory of our life” (8, 14). This characterization suggests that Brontë views Anne as the paragon of a perfect sister. The poem therefore demonstrates the common elegiac convention of idealizing the dead while emphasizing the despair of the living.