Elizabeth Barret Browning: How Do I Love Thee

A Presentation By Cas Schroy

Childhood

•Born: 1806 Durham, England

•Eldest of 12 children•Well to do family•An intelligent child

but sickly•Wrote first “epic”

poem by age 12•Devout Christian

Early Adult Years•1826: Published An Essay on Mind and

Other Poems•1832: Father has to sell rural family estate•1833: Publishes translation of Prometheus

Bound•1838: The family moves to London•After the death of her brother she became

a recluse•1844: Publishes Poems•The two kept a secret courtship for 20

months exchanging 574 letters

Married Life•1846 they married and

moved to Italy•Had one son (Robert

Wideman Browning)•While in Italy she tried to

help the fight for Italy’s freedom from Austria

•She was very happy in her marriage and life in Italy helped with her health

•Died in Florence June 29, 1861

Her Works

•Later publications include:▫Sonnets from the Portugese (1850)▫Casa Guidi Windows (1851)▫Aurora Leigh (1857)

•Considered a better poet than her husband during her life

•Criticism▫Social activism: slavery, child labor,

women’s rights, ect.

How Do I Love Thee (Sonnet 43)How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of being and ideal grace.I love thee to the level of every day'sMost 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 useIn my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.I love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith 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.

The Poem•Rhyme scheme: ABBA

ABBA CDC DCD▫Petrarchan Sonnet

•Iambic pentameter•Religious imagery •Personification•Repetition •Author and Narrator

in one

Works Cited

Barret Browning, Elizabeth. "How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets.

Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

"Elizabeth Barret Browning." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. 6th ed. New York: Columbia UP, 2011. 1.

MasterFILE Premier. Web. 21 Feb. 2012.

The Academy of American Poets. "Elizabeth Barrett Browning." Poets.org. The Academy of American Poets.

Web. 22 Feb. 2012.

Pictureshttp://

digitalcollections.baylor.edu/ui/custom/default/collection/default/images/elizabeth-barrett-browning_engr

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