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| Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning |
What’s the Point?
This poem is a Petrarchan Sonnet. It is in a book of poems called Sonnets from the Portuguese. This is a series of sonnets was written to her husband Robert Browning. It's a passionate declaration of love and says that she will love her husband beyond death.
Where’s my Evidence?
- How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach - I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!---and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
How do I Analyse this?
Form: Petrarchan sonnets have eight lines (an octave) and then six lines (a sestet). The octave follows an ABBA rhyme scheme and the sestet follows a CDCDCD pattern. The turn comes between the octave and the sestet. The octave seems to list the ways in which she loves him while the sestet is more melancholic and introduces the idea of love surviving beyond death.
Imagery: Browning opens with a ridiculous question: "How much do I love thee?" and then proceeds to use language from the semantic field of measurement: "count" "height", "breadth" and "depth" mixed with the abstract concepts of "soul", "grace" and "love". Obviously love is impossible to measure in this way but by mixing these ideas Browning introduced both the physical and spiritual aspects of romantic love. The use of enjambement at the end of the second line emphasises her exuberance and emphasises the idea of her soul and love being a transcendental experience.
The second half of the octave builds on this idea as she lists the ways in which she loves him but continues to used ideas associated with religion: "purely", "freely", "candle light", "as men strive for right". All of this suggests that her love for Browning is a moral imperative: she is ordained by God to love him and it is her spiritual destiny to do so.
The sestet introduces imagery of death and sadness,which might seem out of place after the excitement of the first octave: "lose", "lost saints", "childhood griefs" and "death". This deepens the idea of her love and suggests that her love is a whole emotion which embraces and surpasses all other intense emotions, be they joy or sorrow. The final rhyme is "breath" and "death" emphsising the shortness of life: "breath" symbolising the fragility of life and "death" the end of life. However, she is saying that "if God choose", she will love him beyond death. This again, connects the idea of romantic love with Godliness. Falling in love with her husband seems to be a religious experience for her.
The second half of the octave builds on this idea as she lists the ways in which she loves him but continues to used ideas associated with religion: "purely", "freely", "candle light", "as men strive for right". All of this suggests that her love for Browning is a moral imperative: she is ordained by God to love him and it is her spiritual destiny to do so.
The sestet introduces imagery of death and sadness,which might seem out of place after the excitement of the first octave: "lose", "lost saints", "childhood griefs" and "death". This deepens the idea of her love and suggests that her love is a whole emotion which embraces and surpasses all other intense emotions, be they joy or sorrow. The final rhyme is "breath" and "death" emphsising the shortness of life: "breath" symbolising the fragility of life and "death" the end of life. However, she is saying that "if God choose", she will love him beyond death. This again, connects the idea of romantic love with Godliness. Falling in love with her husband seems to be a religious experience for her.
Structure: The opening of the poem is quite energetic with the short question and response being contained in the first line. It's almost as though she is challenging the reader with this audacious question: "How much do I love thee?" and then it's immediate response: "Let me count the ways." this is playful in tone as the reader knows that love is impossible to "count". She then follows this up with two lines of enjambement which create a passionate, emotional tone and emphasise the largesse or greatness of her love. Her love is unconstrained and fluid and expands beyond lines of poetry.
The use of repetition or anaphora: "I love thee" exaggerates the passion in her voice. This is an unfettered declaration of love. The poet leaves us in no uncertainty about her feelings and the use of "thee" creates a romantic and nostalgic feeling. 'Thee' was very old fashioned in Victorian times and perhaps Browning is trying to make the voice in the sonnet sound timeless, emphasising the timelessness of her love.
The use of a list in the final three lines emphasises the diversity and expansiveness of her love and unifies the poem in a satisfying way as it recalls the list in the second line. The list at the end is not connected by 'ands' which makes it sound like her emotion is now tumbling forth. It creates a crescendo in the poem while picking up on themes introduced at the beginning. This creates a sense of completeness in love.
What is the Reader supposed to feel?The use of repetition or anaphora: "I love thee" exaggerates the passion in her voice. This is an unfettered declaration of love. The poet leaves us in no uncertainty about her feelings and the use of "thee" creates a romantic and nostalgic feeling. 'Thee' was very old fashioned in Victorian times and perhaps Browning is trying to make the voice in the sonnet sound timeless, emphasising the timelessness of her love.
The use of a list in the final three lines emphasises the diversity and expansiveness of her love and unifies the poem in a satisfying way as it recalls the list in the second line. The list at the end is not connected by 'ands' which makes it sound like her emotion is now tumbling forth. It creates a crescendo in the poem while picking up on themes introduced at the beginning. This creates a sense of completeness in love.
This is an interesting poem because it is a passionate declaration of love by a Victorian woman. The unconstrained, open hearted passion of this poem has a strength and assertiveness which would normally be the provenance of a man. She claims that she loves him 'freely' suggesting that she expects nothing in return for her love. It's a very romantic and idealistic poem and I personally find her complete devotion to Browning quite terrifying. I guess it's a poem that is remarkable for it's open heartedness. I don't know that I'd have the courage to put my heart out there in quite this way.
How can I Link this to what the writer is saying?
Barrett Browning is linking her love to her husband to a religious experience. She was a very devout Roman Catholic and she claims that she loves her husband with an almost metaphysical passion. She claims to love him with the open-heartedness of a child. She believes that her love will overcome death and that it overwhelms all other emotions, be they happy or sad.
How can I Link this to another poem?
Sonnet 116 - another sonnet about how love endures beyond time
Hour - a modern sonnet that claims the opposite of Sonnet 43 - love is an emotion which is only felt intensely for a short time. It also is written from a woman's point of view but has a much more cautious and cynical tone.
Ghazal - Another powerful and passionate female voice who embraces her feelings of love openly and declares love whether or not it is returned.
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