By Elizabeth barret browning (1806-1816) How do I love thee? By Elizabeth barret browning (1806-1816)

BACKGROUND Born in Durham, England, was the oldest of twelve children and daughter of a strict father, Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett, who owned sugar plantations in Jamaica. When fifteen, Elizabeth suffered a spinal injury caused by saddling a pony, and became addicted to pain relievers. Being weak, she was sent with her brother Edward to the sea of Torquay, where her brother drowned to death, causing her to be emotionally broken.

… All the while she had been deep in reading and writing poetry, and she had published some anonymous works which received much unexpected praise. She continued to write, despite her depressed state, but refused to leave her house for the next five years. During this time, she produced a collection known as Poems, which caught the eye of a poet who she had mentioned in her poems, Robert Browning.

… The two privately exchanged over 500 love letters in the subsequent months, Elizabeth’s poems being classified as “Sonnets from the Portuguese,” ranked among the most famous collections of love lyrics in English history. One of these poems was known as “How Do I Love Thee?”

… It is addressed to her husband, who used to call her 'My little Portuguese" as she was dark.

HOW DO I LOVE THEE? By ELIZABETH BARRET BROWNING 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 For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right. I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, – I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! – and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

Structure Sonnet Petrarchan (but does not follow normal structure) There is no clear break between octave and sestet. Begins with a rhetorical question. Rest of the poem answers the question.

Turn/volta – a change in direction of argument or narrative Petrarchan sonnet structure A B C D E First quatrain (4 lines) statement Second Quatrain (4 lines) Turn/volta – a change in direction of argument or narrative First tercet Counter – statement First tercet

title The question in the title and the first line: 'How do I love thee?' The poet dedicates the rest of the poem to answering her own question and expressing the ways in which she loves her partner.

THEMEs True love overcomes all and is eternal in nature. True love can be profound, deep and moving; a spiritual experience. The expression of love for another person can lift life above the mundane. There is hope that great love exists beyond the grave; that a truly great love can never die.

TONE AND MOOD Sincere, passionate, idealistic. She shares her feelings honestly and openly.

Analysis octave

LINE 1 -2 How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height Rhetorical Q Does not expect answer – speaker lists the ways Hyperbole exaggeration reinforces the poet’s intense belief in the extent of her love Repeated; (anaphora) builds rhythm, emphasises love/infatuation with partner Enjambment (increases pace) – love reaches far and wide

Line 3 - 4 My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. has feelings of love beyond her scope of vision (spiritual realm) - beyond what she can see or perceive. Finds the goal of being alive Capital letters – strong feelings toward religion. Not trapped by limits of body Personification and Apostrophe - spiritual/religious words 'grace', 'praise', 'saint' and 'God‘ - woman's love is deep and true, compares with God’s grace

Line 5 - 6 I love thee to the level of everyday’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. Merely breathing – needs to love him like need to breathe Metonymy connotation of night and day - loves her partner not only during the day but during the dark hours of the night too Love is continuous Alliteration of “l” sound Entire day is spent with partner in mind

Line 7 - 8 I love thee freely, as men strive for Right. I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. slavery occurring during the 19th century, not all men have equal rights. Strife for justice and fairness Alliteration of “p” spound not compelled or forced to love, own intention. Not corrupt, does not expect praise “Right” and “Praise = Personification and Apostrophe

ANALYSIS SESTET

LINE 9 - 10 I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. sense of love is idealistic and unchallenged, blind faith like a child Jesus’s suffering is referred to in Christian faith as The Passion intensity equal to that experienced during suffering or mourning

LINE 11 - 12 I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, – I love thee with the breath, Alliteration of “l” sound She loves her husband the same as she loved her dead mother and brother. Euphemism - Reference to speaker’s dead mother and brother Edward

LINE 13 - 14 Smiles, tears, of all my life! – and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. No matter what, love will always be strong If God wills to put both in Heaven, or both in Hell, at least they will be able to be with each other in order to love after death. After death, if it is even physically possible and if God chooses her to have the ability, then she will choose to love Robert more after her death.

ANSWERS The poet loves with her whole soul. She loves him for fulfilling her completely, every hour of the day. She loves him honourably. She loves him without asking for flattery or “praise”. She loves him with all the emotion she experienced when she lost people se loved. She loves him with a love she believes , with God’s will, will last for all eternity. a Metonymy b Sun implies day – sunlight being associated with and representing day. Candlelight implies night - a need for artificial light.

… “Depth” ; “breadth”; “height” The word suggests the higher ideals of human beings; the belief in things that are honourable; acting according to one’s conscience. False, she knows exactly because she says “let me count the ways” and she then goes on to list them. B