Aside from adding to the themes of imprisonment, voices, and heartbreak, Emily Brontë functions as a symbol in “The Glass Essay.” Throughout the poem, Emily symbolizes companionship, fear, the speaker, and competition.

At the start of the poem, Emily symbolizes a friend. The speaker is going to visit her mother, who lives alone. For companionship, the speaker brings “a lot of books” (Line 15). The one book the speaker identifies is The Collected Works of Emily Brontë, while none of the other books are ever named. The Collected Works of Emily Brontë is special—the speaker has a rapport with Emily and speaks to her as if they are friends. “What meat is it, Emily, we need?” (Line 25) she asks her. At the start of the section “THREE,” the speaker portrays Emily as if she is no different from her or her mother, noting, “Three silent women at the kitchen table” (Line 26). It is as if Emily is alive and has joined the speaker at her mother’s house.

Conversely, Emily symbolizes the speaker and, thus, the speaker’s fears. The speaker worries she is “turning into Emily Brontë” (Line 21). The similarities between Emily and the speaker make her anxious: Both are in a tranquil domestic environment surrounded by a moor, and they each have intense thoughts and feelings.