Sonnet 43 Flashcards
How do I love thee?…
Let me count the ways
Makes it personal by beginning with a question; conversational; relaxed; easier to state how much she loves him
I love thee to depth and breath and…
height/ My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
Eternal and spiritual love; “soul” immortality and undying; she trusts him even with the unknown
I love thee to the level of…
every day’s/ Most quiet need by sun and candle-light
“sun” love rising every day; natural; day and night represented - love is always around - physical needs as well so she sees him as body and soul
“most quiet need” represents how she will love him through ordinary days. Quick transition from universal to domestic shows there isn’t a time she won’t love him
freely, as men…
purely, as men…
strive for Right
turn from Praise
Her love is not selfish, she behaves in a just way and tries to ensure equality (worked in anti-slavery mvmt)
Praise - love has not been affected by praise from Robert via letters so her love is morally free and pure
put to use…
a love I seemed to lose/…
/In my old griefs
With my lost Saints
She experienced the deaths of her siblings which impacted her a lot. Suggests she will love him through difficult times and she knows that love does not exclude pain, therefore she is not idealizing love
I shall but love thee…
better after death
Her love for God is part of her love for Robert Browning; unhappiness and imperfection will be corrected after death
A lot of punctuation in the 13th line: commas, exclamation mark, dash
Punctuation is unorganised which shows passion and excitement of talking to her lover about how much she loves him whilst worrying she has not explained enough of sufficiently. Reflects how love is imperfect and no matter how hard one tries to define or craft the perfect love, it is impossible
I love thee is repeated several times
Barrett Browning is possibly trying to absolutely make sure her love understands that she really does love him and that repeating it only a few times is not enough
Transition of defining and quantifying love to the use of imagery, similes
It is almost as though she has realised part way through the poem that love cannot be defined or quantified so she uses imagery instead as she realises one of the most powerful things in the world can’t be defined
