ENGLIT POETRY sonnet 43 Flashcards
1
Q
What is the context for the poem?
A
- Victorian poet
- she wrote this poem as part of series of sonnets published in 1850 about her future husband, Robert Browning, in a collection called Sonnets from the Portugese
- he was a major influence on his work, she fell in love with him while she was suffering from illness
- eloped from her parents to marry him, who did not approve of their marriage
2
Q
What is the poem about?
A
- narrator expresses her intense love for her lover, counting all the different ways that she loves him
- she loves him so deeply that she sees their love as spiritual and sacred
- believes their love is so pure that she will also love him even after death
3
Q
What is the form of the poem?
A
- follows tradition by writing her love in a Petrarchan sonnet
- means that she has to follow a traditional rhyme scheme, although in line 10 she rhymes “faith” with “breath”, this slight deviation gives a sense of freedom from the standard deviation of English sonnets, result isn’t incomplete but complex and intriguing
- written in iambic pentameter which mirrors the rhythm of normal speech, however metre is interrupted by pauses and repetition which gives it more passion
- first person makes it more personal
4
Q
What is the structure of the poem?
A
- poem is made up of different ways of defining the speaker’s love for their lover
- the octave (first eight lines) showcases the main idea of the poem, that their love is so intense that it’s almost divine
- the sestet (last six lines) develops this idea and says she loves him with the emotions of an entire lifetime, from childhood to, and past, death
5
Q
What are some of the feelings and attitudes shown throughout the poem?
A
- deep and lasting love - speaker uses descriptions of spiritual love to emphasise the intensity of her own feelings, final line shows that her love is everlasting
- unselfish love - speaker asks for nothing in return, compares herself to people who try to do the right thing without expecting a reward
- virtue - she considers her love to be morally and spiritually right and worthy of God’s support
6
Q
What is significant about “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
A
- opens with a rhetorical question which outlines poem’s main theme right from the start
- answers it immediately, device known as hypophora
- “thee” makes it direct and personal, but lack of name of gender gives the poem a universal theme
- poet “count”s each of the ways, makes their love sound methodical and intense
- counting love is something child-like and whimsical, easing reader into ideas that are more complex and adult
- this simple beginning contradicts with the complexity of rest of poem
- mood shown here is Browning’s own, her own internal search for the expression of her feelings
7
Q
What is significant about the repetition of “I love thee”?
A
- repeats it at the start of a line many times known as anaphora
- also repeats it mid-line, totalling 9 times
- implication she is overwhelmed by her feelings, can only repeat an adequate phrase as her feelings are beyond description
8
Q
What is significant about “depth and breadth and height”?
A
- spatial metaphor for the all-consuming love that she feels for him
- her love must be enjoyed in all dimensions physical and spiritual
- repetition of alliterative “th” adds softness to the poem
- iambic stresses emphasise important one-syllable words such as “love”, “breadth” and “height”
9
Q
What is significant about “my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight/For”
A
- enjambment suggests that she’s overflowing with love
- “my soul can reach” suggests she’s blindly reaching her love out, into the unknown “when feeling out of sight”, the conflation of two different senses is synaesthesia
- hyperbolic lines begin the elaboration which was promised in the first line, it’s the kind of love that the human soul is capable of at its maximum potential, mystical and inexplicable
10
Q
What is significant about “For the ends of Being and ideal Grace”?
A
- capitals suggests these words are being used in a spiritual sense, speaker’s love is so deep it’s like the desire to understand existence and get close to God
- this would have resonated with a 19th century audience when society was more religious
- capitals suggests that her love is out of the ordinary, as if it’s incapable of being understood in a human sense
11
Q
What is significant about “the level of ever day’s/Most quite need, by sun and candlelight”
A
- after the grand claims of the previous three lines, she adds that her love is a quiet persistent thing, something that will stand test the time of everyday living
- it’s a calm, constant part of life
- even in most insignificant parts of life, her love is so far-reaching that her love reaches these parts as well
- she does not only love him when life is hard and he needs someone strong, her love is just as powerful in these moments
12
Q
What is significant about “I love thee freely, as men strive for Right”?
A
- “freely” the love she has is effortless, it comes natural to her
- her love is freely chosen and well chosen, this is the person she wants to and should be with
- Browning had progressive views on equality, as a man can claim a woman as his, a woman should be able to earn a right to claim a man as her own
13
Q
What is significant about “I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise”?
A
- comes after “I love thee freely” and before “I love thee with the passion…”, this has a rhythmic, hypnotic effect and has increasing emphasis as if she is being overwhelmed by her feelings as she composes
- similar structures known as syntactic parallelism
- her love is modest and humble and not the result of vanity “purely”, she doesn’t need extrinsic recognition, her love exists on its own merits
14
Q
What is significant about “I love thee with the passion put to use/In my old griefs”?
A
- “old griefs” loves him even in negative emotions, loves him with everything that she has
- likely referring to the death of her mother and brother, focusing the love she had for them on her husband, energy isn’t wasted on what’s gone and is focusing on her new love
- could also mean the fervour and depth she felt when mourning them is now focused on her love for him
- takes something not usually linked to love and uses it as a testament to the adoration she holds for her husband
15
Q
What is significant about “and with my childhood’s faith”?
A
- as a deeply religious woman, she mentions the passion and love that she held for the divine is the same as the passion and love she holds for her husband now
- childhood years tend to be the time people are most convinced by religious ideas
- could also mean she loves him like a child’s love, loving him purely, thoughtless and effortlessly
