Anne Bronte's harassed governess, Agnes Grey, reflects that in stressful times poetry can provide solace, yet it also documents life experiences. She confides: "I still preserve those relics of past sufferings and experience, like pillars of witness…." Building on "pillars of witness", this panel will investigate the role of recording or witnessing in Brontë literature. How do the works bear witness to events or concepts? How does this affect their "art"? Consider the consequences or benefits of the Brontës' acts of bearing witness. Does gender inform the discussion? Please email 250-500 word abstracts to Kristin Le Veness at Kristin.LeVeness@ncc.edu by September 30, 2009.