Summary
The speaker declares her faith and describes how it protects her from fear. She criticizes those who do not share her same beliefs. She thinks that they are unable to see all of the immortal power of God.
Analysis
In "No Coward Soul Is Mine," Brontë depicts a strong belief in a higher power. Her speaker explains her faith in God in great detail, capturing both her devotion and the power of this animating force. The poem is about what defines faith and what it gives back to the individual who possesses it.
The poem opens with a strong declaration from the speaker: "No coward soul is mine / No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere." She describes herself as unafraid of the tumult ("the world's storm-troubled sphere") and as brave in the most essential part of herself, her soul. She goes on to say where she draws this strength from: "I see Heaven's glories shine / And Faith shines equal arming me from Fear." She is saying that because she perceives "Heaven's glories," her faith shields her from "fear." She repeats the word "shine" to give a distinct impression of how the strength of her belief is mirrored by the power of what she appreciates. She sees the heavens shining and feels the shine around herself. The use of the word "arming" also suggests that this faith not only makes her feel secure, but actually armors her against harm in the world. The next stanza provides a description of the speaker's vision of God: "O God within my breast / Almighty ever-present Deity." The speaker feels the presence of this deity "within" her chest, but also acknowledges that it is "almighty" and "ever-present." Her link to this figure is strongly personal, but at the same time she describes it as all-powerful. In the same way, she describes the life given to her by God: "Life, that in me hast rest, / As I Undying Life, have power in Thee." She is stating that the life that she has been given is amplified by her belief in the "power" in God, as that power is eternal ("undying").
In the next stanza, she describes the faultiness of other individuals' faiths: "Vain are the thousand creeds / That move men's hearts, unutterably vain." The repeated use of the word "vain" implies that these individuals are attracted to weaker beliefs that serve their own interests. These "creeds" that have moved "men's hearts" are lesser causes, in the speaker's view. She condemns even more in the lines that follow: "Worthless as withered weeds / Or idlest froth amid the boundless main." She compares them to "withered weeds" and the unmoving foam at the top of a running river. She does so because it portrays these beliefs as both weak and useless. Additionally, the final stream comparison also highlights the way these lesser beliefs only distract from what is, in the speaker's view, the only true religion. In the fourth stanza, she elaborates on her criticism: "To waken doubt in one / Holding so fast by thy infinity." She takes particular issue with the way that "doubt" is awakened in individuals who are "holding so fast" to God's "infinity." She thinks it is problematic for people who are living in a world God has created not to show more faith. She closes the stanza with the completion of this sentiment: "So surely anchored on / The steadfast rock of Immortality." For her, not believing in these aspects of God's eternality is both wrong and indicative of some kind of moral failing.
The poem is written in seven quatrains with an ABAB rhyme scheme. While this traditional format is used in most of Brontë's poetry, it suits this one especially well, as it is about trust in a traditional belief system. She also makes use of a number of metaphors, which also serve the poem well as they ground otherwise abstract content in clear imagery: light, plants, rivers, etc. The poem is trying to find a way to describe the reasoning behind and power of faith, making its ideas tangible and concrete to the reader.
