*Sonnet 43* - Elizabeth BB

Question 1

Context for sonnet 43

Answer 1

Elizabeth Barret Browning
had a lifelong illness and was bedbound most of her life - helps her to appreciate love
written for Robert BB - exchanged 574 letters in 20 months
father disowned her as he believed his children should not marry - stereotypical view of men being controlling during Victorian
love as a healing force

Question 2

structure:

Answer 2

traditional sonnet but: no volta - love is unchanging. doesnt fully follow rhyme scheme - symbolic that love cannot be defined
caesura and enjambment showing her unchanging love

Question 3

‘i love thee to the depth

Answer 3

and breadth and height’ - spacial metaphors showing the extent of her love.

Question 4

‘most quiet

Answer 4

need, by sun and candle light’ - symbolic of both light and dark - the unchanging nature of her love. and always present

Question 5

the repetition of ‘i love thee…’

Answer 5

reinforces her many reasons for loving him

Question 6

‘in my

Answer 6

old griefs’ - RBB has helped her to rid herself of her illness/sadness - love as healing.

Question 7

‘if god chooses, i shall

Answer 7

but love thee better after death’ - realistic view again. making the most of their time together. also presenting her love as eternal

Question 8

semantic field of religion:

Answer 8

‘grace’ ‘god’ ‘saints’ portraying their relationship as something heavenly and also relates to the healing power of love