April 2012 Sonnet 43 (Elizabeth Barrett Browning) LO1: Understand the context of the poem Sonnet 43. LO2: Annotate the poem, considering the views of relationships it demonstrates.

Sonnet 43 brings the ideas of how much love matters…

TASK 1: 1. Read the poem ‘Sonnet 43’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 2. On the page in the anthology, write a short summary of the poem. 3. Consider what type of relationship(s) is being presented in the poem.

TASK 2: Make notes on the information below in your exercise book. Browning’s Life: - Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born in 1806 in Durham. - In 1835 she moved, with her family, to London. - There she began gaining fame as an anonymously published poet. - She attracted the attention of the prominent poet Robert Browning. - Between 1844 and 1846 Elizabeth and Robert wrote 574 letters to each other, and in 1846 they eloped to Italy. Sonnet 43 is one of the Sonnets from the Portuguese, poems composed during Elizabeth and Robert’s love affair and shortly before their marriage. While she wrote many other poems, including the narrative poem ‘Aurora Leigh’, it is for these sonnets – and particularly Sonnet 43 – that she is mostly remembered. Elizabeth did not actually show her husband the sonnets until 1849, and it was at his insistence that they were published. Throughout the sonnets Elizabeth’s husband appears as a saviour, which is hardly surprising, given his part in rescuing his wife from her tyrannical father.

TASK 3: Annotate the poem, highlight the following: -The use of repetition. Try to explain/think about why it’s important. -Descriptions of love or longing. What is the poet trying to say, in your opinion?