Poetry: Sonnet 43 Flashcards
Which themes are present in this poem?
Love and relationships
Faith and worship
Which poems can be linked with this poem?
She walks in beauty
Cozy apologia
Valentine
Context Point 1
Sonnet 43 was written for her husband (the poet Robert Browning). She wrote this during their affair, reflecting her deep love and admiration for him
Context Point 2
She grew up in a strict, controlling household where her father forbade his children from marrying. But she still eloped with Robert. Reflects not just her love but her defiance of societal and family restrictions, symbolising the growing independance of women in the Victorian Era.
Whys: 1
Elevates her love to a transcendental (spiritual) level, implying that the love God has for humanity is mirrored in the love she feels for her husband
Whys: 2
In victorian society, women were expected to be reserved about their emotions. By openly declaring her love, she challenged these norms and embraced personal expression
What is the form like in the poem?
Iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line)
But frequently disrupted by pauses or repetition, making the reader sound passionate
First personn gives it a personal feel
How can the form of the poem relate to the content of the poem?
Follows tradition by writing her love poem in the form of a Pertrarchan sonnet. Ironic as she contrasts the conventions of victorian era women in the poem.
14 lines - standard feature of sonnets
What is the structure like in the poem?
Poem is made up of a series of different ways of defining the speakers love.
The octave (first 8 lines) introduces main theme (her love is so intense its almost divine)
The setset (remaining 6 lines) develops this theme by showing that she loves him with the emotions of an entire lifetime - from childhood to death
What is the poem about?
The narrator expresses her intense love for her lover, countings all the different ways in which she loves him
What is the rhyming like in the poem?
Octave : ABBA ABBA
Setset : CD CD CD
Analyse this quote and how it’s significant to the poem with the theme of Love and Relationships:
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”
The rhetorical question introduces the poems purpose - to explore and define her love.
The repetition of ‘I love thee’ throughout the poem (anaphora) emphasises the depth and constancy of her feelings
Analyse this quote and how it’s significant to the poem with the theme of Love and Relationships:
“I love thee to the depth and breadth and height”
The exaggerated measurement of love using ‘depth, breadth and height’ makes her love seem boundless. Spatial imagery and hyperbole.
Analyse this quote and how it’s significant to the poem with the theme of Faith and Worship:
“I love thee freely, as men strive for Right.”
Compares love to the moral struggle for justice, like a devotion to what is good
Compares love to striving for justice, equating it to a moral, virtuous act
Analyse this quote and how it’s significant to the poem with the theme of Faith and Worship:
“I love thee with a love I seemed to lose / With my lost saints”
The speaker compares her love to lost faith, suggesting love (like faith) can be rediscovered
Religious imagery: Lost saints connects love to the idea of religious devotion and redemption
Juxtaposition: contrasts love and lost faith, showing how love has been rediscovered
Analyse this quote and how it’s significant to the poem with the theme of Love and relationships:
“I shall but love thee better after death”
The speaker believes that her love will continue to grow stronger, even after death, making it eternal
Foreshadowing: hints that love will grow stronger after death, implying it is eternal
Analyse this quote and how it’s significant to the poem with the theme of Love and Relationships:
“I love thee with the breath, / Smiles, tears, of all my life!”
The speaker shows that love is present in every moment in her life, in both joy and sorrow
Triplet: breath, smiles, tears emphasises how love is present in all aspects of life
Emotive language: words like breath smiles and tears show the depth of the emotions tied to love
Analyse this quote and how it’s significant to the poem with the theme of Love and relationships:
“I love thee with the passion put to use / In my old griefs.”
The speaker shows how love has transformed her past grief into something passionate and meaningful
Juxtaposition: contrast between passion and griefs shows how love transforms pain into strength
Analyse this quote and how it’s significant to the poem with the theme of love and relationships:
“Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight”
The speakers love is constant whether in quiet moments of need or in brighter more active times.
Symbolism: the contrast between sun and candlelight represent times of abundance and harship of light, showing how love is constant through both.
