Sonnet 43 - Elizabeth Barret Browning Flashcards
Structure
Traditional Petrarchan sonnet - 14 lines in iambic pentameter
Rhyme scheme - ABBA, ABBA, CDCDCD
Themes
Love and devotion
Personal relationships
Context
She was married to Robert Browning who is likely the subject of this poem
She held very progressive views on equality and women’s rights for the Victorian times
Very devout Christian
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
The poem begins with a rhetorical question that she asks herself which is an example of Hypaphora and the question refers to the subject of the poem which we imply to be a lover. The phrase ‘Let me count the ways’ has an almost childlike innocence to it and the simplicity of the phrase contrasts with the complex and cleverly written phrases used after. The phrase suggests the poet is on a search to find a way to express her powerful feelings. Meanwhile the phrase ‘I love thee’ is repeated throughout the poem implying that her feelings are overwhelming
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace
In the 1st line, a spatial metaphor is used to demonstrate that her love is multidimensional and all-consuming. In the 2nd line, she use synaesthesia (combination of touch and sight) and the phrase could have a double meaning as it could mean that she loves him even when he is not there or that she loves him even though she shouldn’t as they weren’t married at the time of writing. In the 3rd line, the use of the capitalised ‘Grace’ tells us she feels her love is sanctioned by God.
I love thee into the level of every day
Most quiet need by sun and candlelight
These lines suggest that she believes her love will last the test of time and that she will love him and meet his needs everyday, day (‘sun’) or night (‘candlelight’). She is also emphasising the power and passion of the simplest moments
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right
She suggests that her love is both ‘freely’ and rightly chosen. Starting with an adverbial phrase, adds an almost rhythmic, hypnotic effect to the line. It holds a similar structure to the next 2 lines which is an example of syntactic parallelism
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith
The poet insists her ‘old griefs’ weren’t a waste of passion and she may be referring to her mourning over the deaths of her mother and brother. It could also mean that the depth of emotion she put into mourning she now puts into loving him. In the phrase, ‘and with my childhood’s faith’, she explains that the passion she feels for her lover now is the passion she felt for the divine as a child, suggesting her love is both pure and eternal
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints - I love thee with the breath
She implies that her faith in goodness has now transformed into faith for her beloved and that she has regained religion but in a more mature, adult form. In the phrase after the caesura, ‘I love thee’ is repeated for its only time in the middle of a phrase and that could be because we are reaching the conclusion of the poem. This line is the Volta (turning point) as she shifts from describing her love metaphorically to physically
Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and, if God choose,
I shall love but thee better after death
In the phrase ‘Smiles, tears, of all my life’, she is listing 2 factors that demonstrate her feeling as well as drawing a parallel between life and death. In the final phrase of the poem, the poet expresses her wish that when they die, they ascend to Heaven so their love is eternal, inverting the traditional wedding vow, ‘Till death do us part’, so that when her life ends her love doesn’t
Whys
Through her re-negotiation of the Petrarchan sonnet form, Barret Browning challenges the ignorance of the female voice in the nineteenth century, confidently asserting her right to declare her love through poetry as a female writer.
Barret Browning elevates love to a transcendental level, implying that the love God has for humanity is mirrored in the love she feels for her husband.
Barrett Browning celebrates love as a transformative force which enables her to overcome past traumas and afflictions.
