Victorian Verse - The Nurse Believed - Charlotte Bronte

Why this fragment is included in the selection is a mystery – as is the subject matter.  What are we supposed to take away from it?  At the risk of finding what is not there…

The Nurse believed the sick man slept 

The Nurse “believed” but she does not know.  The status – living or dead – of the man is therefore obscure. 

For motionless he lay 

The man is still, which she takes as a sign of him sleeping.  But if truly motionless, then there is no sign of breathing.  This is odd, given that she is a Nurse and sitting right by his bedside and this would be a sure sign that he is, in fact, dead - or at least, worth checking!

She rose & from the bed-side crept 

with cautious step away

The stealthy action of the Nurse - “crept” and “cautious step” - suggests she does not want to wake the sleeping man.  However, taken together, the words seem slightly sinister.  Is her “caution” because she does not want to wake him?  Or does it suggest uncertainty?  Does she know, in her heart, that he IS dead, but does not want to admit it? Is she leaving to tell someone her fears?

An odd little poem. It does show, however, what a few, well-chosen and well-placed words can create in a very short space of time.  There seems to be some juxtaposition of sleep and death which suggests how close we are to the one when we do the other - as if the difference is merely one of perception, rather than reality.