Sonnet 43 SS

Question 1

‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Answer 1

• ‘How do I love thee?’ —> This quote is an example of hypophora where the poet asks a question and then goes on to answer it herself. This is perhaps used by Browning to indicate that her love is complicated and detailed and cannot be defined in a singular way.
• ‘let me count the ways’ —> through the use of the verb ‘count’ and plural term ‘ways’, it further reiterated the idea of her love being plentiful and multi-dimensional since ifas it implies that there are many ‘ways’.

Question 2

‘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.’

Answer 2

• ‘I love thee’ —> introduces the content of her poem by initially addressing her partner Robert Browning. This indicates that the poem is autobiographical and that her love defied social conventions of the Victorian era since most marriages were for social gain.
• ‘I love thee’ —> in the sequencing of the poem, ‘I love thee’ is first in the order of indicate that their love is of the highest priority to Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
• ‘depth and breadth and height my soul can reach’ —> uses a syndetic triadic in the terms ‘depth,’ , ‘breadth’ and ‘height’ to reinforce the imagery of measurements. In this, she uses a Lexus of dimensions to indicate that her love is multi-dimensional. This is shown by the use of poly syndetic listing which indicates that her love spans across several dimensions of measurement. Also, in ‘my soul can reach’, the verb ‘reach’ insinuates that she ‘loves’ her partner to her furthermost ‘reach’. This implies that she loves her partner to the highest extent.
• ‘my soul’ —> further more, browning explores love as platonic and pure in her relationship with her husband as indicated by the noun ‘soul’. This indicates that her love is from her spiritual Center and so is centralised to her being.
• ‘when feeling out of sight’ —> this implies that love acts as a tool to navigate and illuminate her life. This is indicated by the use of visual semantics in the term ‘sight’. This portrays her as perhaps over-reliant of her love with Robert Browning. Links in to context of her being very reclusive as a writer due to illnesses that often kept her marginalised from society and kept at home.
• ‘ends of Being and ideal Grace’ —> Through the use of the terms ‘Being’ and ‘Grace’, through their capitalisation, Browning may be making a reference to god comparing her love for her partner as powerful as her love of religion and god. This portrays her as a devout religious devotee. This would accurately portray the strength of her love to her readers since in the Victorian era, religion and a love of god was considered to be both pure but also important. However, whilst being religious, Browning came from an Anglican Christian family but held several unconventional religious views.

Question 3

‘I love thee to the level of every day’s most quiet need, by sun and candlelight’

Answer 3

• ‘I love thee to the level of every day’ —> this adheres to the modern conventional cliches of love since the adjective ‘every’ portrays the love that she feels as being consistent and ever-lasting to each ‘day’. This portrays an ongoing sense of passion for her husband.
• ‘every day’s quiet need’ —> however, the adjective ‘quiet’ implies that the ‘love’ is not bold or overly romantic, which insinuates that her romantic relationship satisfies both the important and trivial matters within her life. This portrays it a cure for all issues and needs.
• ‘sun and candlelight’ —> uses a vernacular including references to light to create temporal markers since ‘sun’ can allude to day time whereas ‘candlelight’ can denote to night time. This therefore suggests that Browning lover her partner consistently through day and night. However, the imagery of light can also portray another aspect of her love since the light can serve as a metaphor where the noun ‘sun’ portrays him as her centralised life source similar to the way that the ‘sun’ provides the universe with life. Also, in ‘candlelight’ this can serve as a metaphor suggesting that he illuminates her life in the dark.

Question 4

‘I love thee freely as men strive for right’

Answer 4

• ‘I love thee’ —> this phrase appears at the start of each line so is an example of anaphora. This can emphasise to what extent Browning’s love is strong and passionate since it is declared at the start of each concept and the majority of lines.
• ‘freely as men strive for right’ —> she uses the adverb ‘freely’ to insinuate that no external factors can influence the way that she feels agouti her husband. This portrays how her love is her choice and is not forceful. This can link to how she married her husband ‘freely’ even though her father disapproved of it. Also, in ‘strive for right’ this can indicate that she is willing to fight for their love.

Question 5

‘purely as they turn from Praise. I love thee with the passion put to use in my old griefs,’

Answer 5

• ‘Purely as they turn from praise’ —> uses the adverb ‘purely’ to further reiterate how her love is constantly platonic throughout the poem. This portrays it as divine and unblemished.
• ‘from praise’ —> uses the adverb ‘from’ to portray men rejecting any ‘praise’ or admiration. This can perhaps imply that her love of her husband is not for the purpose of gaining ‘praise’ and that she will reject and does not want any reward but just wants to express her true feelings.
• ‘with the passion put to use in my old griefs and with my childhood’—> Browning has an unstable childhood which caused many issues for her health. As a result, this change in her ‘passion’ from concerning to her old ‘griefs’ and ‘childhood’ memories to being concerned with love can portray it as a transformative force and a cure for her issues and ‘griefs’ as it turns them into a ‘pure’ and joyful force.

Question 6

‘I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints’

Answer 6

• ‘I seems to lose with my lost saints’ —> uses the plural noun ‘saints’ to create a biblical vernacular. This serves the purpose of indicating her love since ‘saints’ are associated with religion and divine presence, as a result, she deifies her husband elevating his status.
• This can portray her as a devotee of him and re-emphasise the extent of her love for him. This perhaps suggests that their love was unconventional since in Victorian England, religions that were not Christian were considered as unorthodox and unconventional. This portrays her love as unique and defying social conventions.

Question 7

‘ - I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life -‘

Answer 7

• ‘-‘ may be the use of caesura is employed to indicate Browning’s intense passion and enthusiasm around love which causes a sense of breathlessness in the speaker of the poem.
• ‘breath’

Question 8

‘And if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.’

Answer 8

• love will continue to grow forever
• highlights how her love is so strong it can transcend the mortal realm as not even death could destroy it

Question 9

‘Sonnet 43’

Answer 9

• sonnets are associated with love, which suggests that this poem will be about love/loving relationships
• 43 indicates that there were 42 other sonnets before which highlight the extent of love BarrettBrowning has for her husband