Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barret Browning Flashcards
What collection is this poem from?
Sonnets from the Portuguese (44 sonnets during the course of her courtship with Robert Browning)
When did Barret Browning meet her husband?
1845, and while his attraction to her was quick, her feelings for him took longer to develop as she didn’t know if he was being sincere as he had mental issues.
When was sonnet 43 published?
1850
What type of sonnet is sonnet 43?
Petrarchan
Barret Browning married her husband against…
her fathers will.
Why was it originally published as “sonnets of the Portuguese?”
Because translating was a woman’s job and female writers weren’t taken seriously.
“How do I love thee? …
Let me count the ways”
“I love thee to the…
depth and breadth and height”
“most quiet need, …
by sun and candlelight”
“In my old griefs, and…
with my childhood’s faith”
“I shall but…
love thee better after death”
Analysis of “thee”
archaic language used to refer to the narrator’s object. it is informal, showing that the object and subject are equal.
“I love thee to the depth and breadth and height”
tricolon of half rhymes, which draw attention to measurement which is ironic as love cannot be quantified.
“and with my childhood’s faith”
These allude to antithetical periods of a person’s life, however are placed within the same line. This connotes a level of transcendentalism - the narrator’s relationship transcends the temporal limits
“I shall but love thee better after death”
the modal “I shall” expresses a definite affirmation of love - this final line shows that the speaker’s relationship overcomes death and is immortal.
