How to Format Lyrics:

  • Type out all lyrics, even repeating song parts like the chorus
  • Lyrics should be broken down into individual lines
  • Use section headers above different song parts like [Verse], [Chorus], etc.
  • Use italics (<i>lyric</i>) and bold (<b>lyric</b>) to distinguish between different vocalists in the same song part
  • If you don’t understand a lyric, use [?]

To learn more, check out our transcription guide or visit our transcribers forum

About

Genius Annotation

Composed in 1837, it is believed that this poem is set in the imaginary world of ‘Gondal’, created by Emily and her siblings when in their teens. Free to let their imaginations run riot, they created a huge cast of characters; heroes and heroines, who fought great battles and were involved in epic romances. It is thought that “Spellbound” is located in their fictional Gondal, even though it seems very much like the Yorkshire Moors where Emily lived.

It has believed that the poem describes an incident in the imagined “Gondal” plot, in which one of their heroines has to leave her child to die on the mountains in winter. The heroine can neither watch nor leave: she is spellbound in a negative sense by her situation. The seeds of Emily’s adult preoccupations are already present in “Spellbound”: willpower, destiny and death.

Voice – The narrator is the fictional character of the imaginary land of Gondal, telling the reader of her dilemma, in the form of dramatic monologue. The reader then pieces together the story and learns about the character and temperament of the narrator.

Form – There are three stanzas of four lines each, known as quatrains. The lines have a regularity that the reader can predict, each with an almost identical short last line.

Rhyme Scheme – The pattern is consistently ABAB, CDCD and EFEF.

Themes
Wild nature reflecting human actions.
Human determination battling external compulsion.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

  1. 12.
    Death
  2. 19.
    Hope
  3. 46.
    Song
  4. 48.
    Spellbound
  5. 51.
    Stars
Comments