How do I love TheeBy: Elizabeth Barret BrowningHow do I love thee? Let me count the ways.1I love thee to the depth and breadth and height2My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight3For the ends of being an ideal grace.4I love thee to the level of every days5Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.6I love thee freely, as men strive for right.7I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.8I love thee with the passion put to use9In my old grief and with my childhoods faith.10I love thee with a love I seemed to lose11With my lost saints, - I love thee with the breath,12Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,13I shall but love thee better after death.14How Do I Love Thee: Counting or Defining?Elizabeth Barret Browning, a famous poet in Victorian era, published a compilation of 44 Sonnets entitled Sonnets of the Portuguese, named after her husbands endearment to her My little Portuguese. This miscellany was inspired by their love story and courtship. The 43rd entry in this Sonnet was entitled How do I love thee, which was the most popular poem in this compilation and was used by Shakespeare in one of his play, Hamlet. Because of its popularity, it attracted scholars that results to criticizing her poem, but, most of them approached it positively. Critics often say that her Sonnets were one of the most widely known collections of Love lyrics in English. Scholars compared her imagery to Shakespeare and her own version of Italian form to Petrarch. The title itself gives a glimpse to the reader that the poem is all about love. It is also obvious that the poem will contain the authors expression of what love she feels to her beloved whom she wrote the poem for. It was a true reflection of the intense love that a person could feel. It is also considered as a sensitive poem because of the fact that the author defines herself only in the how she loves her husband. The theme that the author uses in this poem was not just a typical love but in a deeper understanding of it, the point that it is not an earthly concept, but an abstract and everlasting one that lasts beyond cold grave. There are circumstances that Browning experienced in the past and in the present that influenced her while writing her poems. One of it was her tormented childhood which was reflected on line 10 In my old grief and with my childhoods faith. It was when her mother died when she was still young and believed that, that caused her to somehow lose her faith in God, but eventually, found the light when she met her husband. Another, Elizabeths family was once a wealthy family until her father mismanaged their Sugar plantations in Jamaica and suffered serious financial crisis, with embarrassment they decided to transfer to Sidmouth and eventually, live in London. Another, she was weak physically and encountered different illness in her childhood such as, lung ailment, injury in her spine and chronic cough. Then, her father opposes in their relationship but didnt succeed at all. In 1846, they exchanged letters and soon eloped and resided in Florence, Italy. Because of what she had done, her father never talked to her again. The word passion on line 9 pertained that it was related in the Passion of Jesus. It is Christians belief that Jesus sufferings serves as forgiveness for the sins man committed, and this connects with the idea that the passion is put to use. said Nomi. Tracing her past, when her brother died through drowning, she suffered from comma-length period of depression lasting over five years. She burdens herself into that tragic event and was in-pain for a long time that she didnt even want to talk about it until she died. Another, when she met her husband, Robert, who she devoted her love for and the one who inspires her to write. He is also the one who fulfilled the love that Elizabeth wants to feel since her father was too busy to give her the attention she needed. Line 7 ended the statement with a clause, as men strive for right, clearly suggests that slavery was present in that period of time. The word right can simply define as justice and fairness that, that era doesnt practice or being implemented that time. Although her father owned a sugar plantation still she stands for her principle that she was against slavery.The poet expressed her everlasting love for her husband by counting the ways on why she loves him. She attempted to express her undying love in every dimension of her life. In this style, she was able to present the fact that everything around her leads to that kind of love. Analyzing the poem, she presented it not just by counting ways but more on defining her love by citing her own limitations. The structural approach that permits to scrutinize every line was used to find the underlying message of the poem. The title already gives the audience the idea that it contains expression of love for someone (Line 1). The poem started with the rhetorical question that the poem itself answers in its body. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height. My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight (Line 2-3), with this line, it was believed that her love for her husband was three-dimensional. Basically, she refers to the physical, emotional and spiritual love for him and might be considered as real. Another scholar gave meaning to this line such as the word soul proves that she is not trapped by the limits of her body, and can love beyond those limits (Nomi, n.d.). With this statement, we can say that her love for him was limitless. It was also said in the poem that she loves him to the point that he was like one of the basic need of her life. It was reflected on I love thee to the level of every days. Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. (Line 5-6). Another interpretation of this could be the sun, refers to the typical sun while the candle-light may be the light that she uses when the sun sets. It only implies that her love for him doesnt end but still continues like a cycle. A scholar said this doesnt mean the love is any less significant. The everyday need for love may be quiet, but definitely its there (Wasim, n.d.) while Nomi said She is expressing her love for him by just saying just as we have our basic needs to survive,, she has his love. Although they have different approach, they both believe that his love was considered as one of her basic needs in able to survive. The next lines I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. (Line 7-8). In the first line we can say that she loves her with her free will and that she was not forced to love him. Also, she loves him without asking for something in return. The next line insists that she loved him without any expectation and didnt want to be praised by anyone. She loves him for the sake of love and not for praise. Perhaps the speaker is also implying that, she's not proclaiming her love in order to be applauded by her readers. She's not seeking praise for writing a great poem about love; she loves without wanting any reward or commendation (Wasim, n.d.). The last part of the line could be implied that her love keeps on going strong and not jaded with age. The poem ended with the confession of her love for him that, it was sturdy to the point that its within her system. She loves him in whatever emotion or feeling she might feel every day and If God persist, shell love him even more after death. Nomi did a reflection that if God wills to put in heaven, or both in Hell, at least they will be able to be with each other in order to love after death. This only implies that as long as theyre together it wont matter wherever they would be after life. This startling ending provides a unique beauty to the poem which mesmerized the readers and provokes them to think about love said Shreya. The poem goes into describing how deep her love for her beloved and did not focused on why and when she loves him. She let the readers be aware and understand that her love for him was deep and countless to the point that she extended her love beyond her physical limitations. According to Joseph Campbell, The agony of breaking through personal limitations is the agony of spiritual growth, (The Hero with a Thousand Faces, 2004). Elizabeth, which happens to be the hero in the poem, proclaimed her love for her beloved by moving beyond her limitations in her agony of spiritual growth. It can also be described as everlasting love because it was continuous even after death. She believed that her love for him was her life. She needs him like air to continue living and be able to survive in life. Pure love and dedication are the two pillars on which this poem stands and once again the poem proves the most cherished notion that love is eternal and it is unaware of any boundaries said R. Jain. Nomi suggested that To me this poem could not have been written so deeply by someone who has not felt these feelings. Everyone knows of love, but not everyone feels it as deeply or strong as in this poem. People, who dont feel like how the author feels, might have had other expression through reading this poem. Eternal love refers to her describing the love for him without any reason at all.Everyone knows that love do exist but not everyone is privilege to be loved as much as the receiver of this poem. This tells us that pure and eternal love exists but only for few people. Nowadays, people might say that true love doesnt exist anymore but what they dont know is that we all have the capacity to be loved as long as we have faith in our hearts. For me, true love exists through God. He is our forever. With Him around everything is possible. With the right time and blessing from Him, Pure and Eternal love could exist. Because of the extreme and deep love the poem expresses, it enlightens and inspires people to love even more. REFERENCES:Khutt. "Critical Analysis Of "How Do I Love Thee?" Review. Web log post.Essay Judge.N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Jan. 2015."Elizabeth Barrett Browning Biography." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Advameg, Inc., n.d. Web. 02 Jan. 2015.Campell, Joseph. "CHAPTER III: Transformations of the Hero." The Hero with a Thousand Faces. 3rd ed. New Jersey: Princeton UP, 2004. 291+. Pdf. Web. 03 Jan. 2015.Jain, R. "Summary of How Do I Love Thee? By Elizabeth Barrett Browning." Web log post. Share Your Essay. N.p., 2014. 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