HOW DO I LOVE THEE???
by ELIZABETH BARRATE BROWNING.
INTRO.......
Do you know that first line? Today I read that Elizabeth Barrett
Browning’s sonnets have some of the most recognizable first lines in the
English language. This week I decided to add some Valentine’s Day
appopriate study – Victorian love poetry. Do you have a favorite Victorian
love poem? Victorian poetry, or even Victorian sonnets, is a wide
topic, surely too much to study properly in one week. To narrow the
field somewhat and make the best use of my time, while still being a bit
indulgent, my focus will be on Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning. Theirs is a love story in verse if ever there was one.
Having an actual love story, with a courtship conducted in their verse, to contemplate on Valentine’s Day is nice timing but it also helps me in a few other ways. There is a feminist vein to mine with Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s work, study of two authors, a potential postcolonial reading and racial themes to consider, and the legacy of the Romantic period to contemplate. And the Browning’s texts cover a wide arc of time across the Victorian era, which is useful for historical reference and context. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote one of my favorite sonnet collections, ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese.’ It will be wonderful to spend a week reading them over and over. But I will have to read more than just one of her texts, or even a group of sonnets, so I will also read ‘Aurora Leigh.’ Aurora Leigh is not a love poem, but it is very interesting considering Mrs. Browning’s biography.
Browning portrays Robert as her redeemer, her savior from past griefs. She writes “I love thee with the passion, put to use/In my old griefs”, suggesting her sorrows of growing up – her mother and favourite brother dying – have been forgotten, or at least numbed, by her love founded in Robert. She would have grieved immensely when she lost her family, yet the intensity of her anguish and sorrow has been transferred to Robert. She emphasises the intensity has been “put to use”, it has not been wasted and has been put into the love in her relationship with Robert. She is also conveying that the passion with which she loves Robert is like that only reserved for the grieving of the loss of loved ones. She again furthers this idea when she goes on to say “I love thee with the love I seemed to lose/With my lost Saints”. In this line, she is saying that she has recovered from the grievances of her mother and brother .Her love for Robert has been replaced with the love she once bore for her “lost saints.”
Browning also suggests that Robert is the new focus of her intensity that was concentrated on her religious beliefs as a child; she used to be greatly religious when she was younger. Thus, she states she loves him “with my childhood’s faith”. She is suggesting her love for Robert is as strong as her faith was in religion as a child. She compares her love to Robert as that of religion – unquestioning, innocent and followed with blind faith. She is also stating that her religious beliefs as a child would have been unchangeable. Thus, her love for Robert is not going to change, even in the face of despair and disaster. When she talks about her “lost Saints” she is talking about her waywardness in religion. So Browning is suggesting that her love with Robert has revived her and has made her believe in religion and all things holy again. This point can be furthered when she surrenders to the will of God, “If God choose”. It is as if she is making up with God and seeing the way of religion again. She suggests that this is because Robert has resurrected her belief in religion, as if her love is so unbelievably good there must be a God – to give Browning such a miracle as great as Robert.
In Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Browning, she conveys her love for her future husband Robert Browning by saying it is immeasurable and unbounded; through the suggestion that the reaches of her soul are infinite, therefore, so is her love for Robert. Moreover, she says Robert is her redeemer form past ills and that she has recovered from the losses of her mother and brother because of this. Finally, Browning suggests the focus she put on religion as a child is now put into their relationship.
WORK SITED ...
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/elizabeth-barrett-browning
http://litteraturlyst.blogspot.in/2016/02/how-do-i-love-thee-af-elizabeth-barrett.html
by ELIZABETH BARRATE BROWNING.
INTRO.......
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
I love thee to the level of every day’s
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee with the passion put to use
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
I shall but love thee better after death.
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
I love thee to the level of every day’s
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee with the passion put to use
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
I shall but love thee better after death.
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Having an actual love story, with a courtship conducted in their verse, to contemplate on Valentine’s Day is nice timing but it also helps me in a few other ways. There is a feminist vein to mine with Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s work, study of two authors, a potential postcolonial reading and racial themes to consider, and the legacy of the Romantic period to contemplate. And the Browning’s texts cover a wide arc of time across the Victorian era, which is useful for historical reference and context. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote one of my favorite sonnet collections, ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese.’ It will be wonderful to spend a week reading them over and over. But I will have to read more than just one of her texts, or even a group of sonnets, so I will also read ‘Aurora Leigh.’ Aurora Leigh is not a love poem, but it is very interesting considering Mrs. Browning’s biography.
Browning portrays Robert as her redeemer, her savior from past griefs. She writes “I love thee with the passion, put to use/In my old griefs”, suggesting her sorrows of growing up – her mother and favourite brother dying – have been forgotten, or at least numbed, by her love founded in Robert. She would have grieved immensely when she lost her family, yet the intensity of her anguish and sorrow has been transferred to Robert. She emphasises the intensity has been “put to use”, it has not been wasted and has been put into the love in her relationship with Robert. She is also conveying that the passion with which she loves Robert is like that only reserved for the grieving of the loss of loved ones. She again furthers this idea when she goes on to say “I love thee with the love I seemed to lose/With my lost Saints”. In this line, she is saying that she has recovered from the grievances of her mother and brother .Her love for Robert has been replaced with the love she once bore for her “lost saints.”
Browning also suggests that Robert is the new focus of her intensity that was concentrated on her religious beliefs as a child; she used to be greatly religious when she was younger. Thus, she states she loves him “with my childhood’s faith”. She is suggesting her love for Robert is as strong as her faith was in religion as a child. She compares her love to Robert as that of religion – unquestioning, innocent and followed with blind faith. She is also stating that her religious beliefs as a child would have been unchangeable. Thus, her love for Robert is not going to change, even in the face of despair and disaster. When she talks about her “lost Saints” she is talking about her waywardness in religion. So Browning is suggesting that her love with Robert has revived her and has made her believe in religion and all things holy again. This point can be furthered when she surrenders to the will of God, “If God choose”. It is as if she is making up with God and seeing the way of religion again. She suggests that this is because Robert has resurrected her belief in religion, as if her love is so unbelievably good there must be a God – to give Browning such a miracle as great as Robert.
In Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Browning, she conveys her love for her future husband Robert Browning by saying it is immeasurable and unbounded; through the suggestion that the reaches of her soul are infinite, therefore, so is her love for Robert. Moreover, she says Robert is her redeemer form past ills and that she has recovered from the losses of her mother and brother because of this. Finally, Browning suggests the focus she put on religion as a child is now put into their relationship.
WORK SITED ...
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/elizabeth-barrett-browning
http://litteraturlyst.blogspot.in/2016/02/how-do-i-love-thee-af-elizabeth-barrett.html
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