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Elizabeth Barrette Browning

Elizabeth Barrette Browningby Indranil Sarkar

contact: 09859945270How do I love Thee?Sonnet-43

How do I love Thee?[Sonnet-43]No female poet was held in higher esteem among cultured readers in both the United States and England than Elizabeth Barrett Browning during the nineteenth century.Even in this 21st Century she is remembered with admiration and reverence for her humane and feminist views.

Sonnet-43"My Little Portuguese! Robert Browning used to address her in this pet name and Elizabeth wrote in Sonnet-33 Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear.Elizabeth Barrette Browning was one of the most prominent Victorian rational feminist poet.A humane and liberal point of view manifests itself in her poems.She was "self-taught in almost every respect." Edgar Allen Poe called her "the noblest of her sex and borrowed the subject matter of his poem Raven from her poem.

Elizabeth Barrette Browning (1806 1861)Elizabeth Barrette Browning was a feminist who dared to condemn the silliness of the feminists in the name of Feminism. Sonnets from the Portuguese

Robert BrowningRobert BrowningAfter reading "Lady Geraldine's Courtship," Browning in January 1845, wrote a letter to Elizabeth which began, "I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett.The appreciation of her verse from one of the most celebrated poets of the time conquered the soul of Elizabeth and England witnessed one of the most romantic courtships in the following years.During this period of courtship Elizabeth was engaged in composing love sonnets which were published under the title "Sonnets from the Portuguese in 1850. The specialty of the Sonnet is its expression of love emotions from a feminine plane. Before her, no poet had explored/map the Female mind or feminine standpoint. Right from Petrarch, almost every one viewed love emotions from the Male parameter. Even the iconoclastic Sonneteer William Shakespeare did not feel the necessity to explore the feminine standpoint.

Works of Elizabeth Barrette Browning1820 : Elizabeth's father gets Battle of Marathon printed.1825 : "The Rose and Zephyr," her first published work, is published in Literary Gazette.1826 : Publishes first volume of poems, An Essay on Mind, anonymously.1833 : Publishes Prometheus Bound, a translation from Greek playwright Aeschylus, again anonymously.1838 : Publishes The Seraphim and Other Poems under her own name.1840 : She writes "De Profundis," articulating her grief; it will be published posthumously. Additionally, she writes "Queen Annelida and False Arcite" for an edition of poetry by Chaucer and "The Cry of the Children," attacking Child Labour.Works of Elizabeth Barrette Browning1842: Publishes "The Cry of the Children." A popular work, it helps bring about the regulation of Child Labour.1845: Elizabeth begins work on a series of love poems, Sonnets from the Portuguese, named from Robert Browning's pet name for her, "the Portuguese.1850:Publishes a new two-volume edition of Poems that includes the Sonnets from the Portuguese.1851:Publishes Casa Guidi Windows, a work about Italy, including political reflections.1857:Publishes Aurora Leigh, a "novel in verse.1860:Publishes Poems Before Congress, a collection of political poems.1862:Posthumous publication of Last Poems, including "De Profundis."

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 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 every days 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 childhoods 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.

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)

SummaryElizabeth Barrett Browning in her love sonnet How Do I Love Thee beautifully expresses her love for her husband. Listing the different ways in which Elizabeth loves her beloved, she also insists that if God permits her she will continue loving the love of her life even after her death.A prominent Victorian poet Elizabeth wrote 44 sonnets to express the courtship between herself and Robert Browning, her love and would be husband.How Do I Love Thee is a sensitive poem because of the reason that the poetess here defines herself only in the ways she loves Robert. Love is portrayed to be intangible; it can even be felt even after one settles in the cold grave. Link: http://www.shareyouressays.com/97734

How do I love Thee?(Sonnet-43)Love according to Elizabeth is not an earthly concept because she loves freely and purely without thinking about the whys and hows of love and its future possibilities. Though both the lovers never met but still they express their love for each other by the means of sharing poems and this is obviously one of the poems they shared in the moments of their love.Defining her love, by using a spatial metaphor, Elizabeths love extends to heights of all the lengths and breadths that her pure soul could possibly reach. She expresses her love for her husband to be from every part of her soul and the poetess in the process is stretching out her arms to show that he means the whole world to her.As it is said, the person addressed might be someone in the world but for her that someone means the whole world. Her world revolves around the love of her life and she insists that death can separate her from her lover but it cannot separate her love for Robert. http://www.shareyouressays.com/97734

How do I love Thee?(Sonnet-43)How I Love Thee does is undoubtedly a simple poem with a deep hidden meaning. Love is eternal, unconquerable and the highest power in the world. Elizabeth loves her husband to be on a daily basis instead of loving him for a few passionate moments.Her love is not a slave to momentary passion and this is proved because she is in love with Robert without even meeting him. The poetess by no means is seeking appraisal by the readers she is fully controlled by the emotion of love both internally and externally. She has completely lost control over her body, mind and soul.Elizabeth is also stressing on the fact that someone does not have to pretend that they are morally or ethically good, goodness is completely a matter of ones own choice. 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. Link: http://www.shareyouressays.com/97734

Sonnet-43Q. What type of tone is used in the poem "How Do I Love Thee?Ans. The tone of the poem is the mood or feeling that its message conveys. This sonnet is a simply a love poem, expressing how deeply she loves her husband. The tone is intimate, loving, sincere.Q.What is the rhyme scheme of Sonnet-43?Ans. The rhyme scheme of "Sonnet 43" is as follows: Lines 1 to 8 : ABBA, ABBA; Lines 9 to 14 :CD, CD, CD. Petrarchan sonnets first eight lines are called an octave; the remaining six lines are called a sestet. The octave presents the theme of the poem; the sestet concludes the poem and offers a solution if there is a problem or provides an answer if there is a question. In Elizabeth Brownings "Sonnet 43, the octave draws relationship between the poet's love and religious and political ideals; the sestet draws relationship between the power of love she felt while writing the poem and the power of love she experienced earlier in her life. The author concludes the poem as saying that she will love her husband-to-be even more after death.

Sonnet-43Paraphrase of the Poem:

Line 1. She loves this man in numerous ways, and would therefore need to count them.

Line 2. Her love is as real as the three dimensions of all physical things. Breadth: width - a measurement of how far across her love is. Height - how high her love is. Depth- how deep her love is.

Lines 3/4. She loves him will all of her soul and can not even describe how much. She likens her love for this man as much as some one loves God. Lines 5/6. She is comparing her love to our basic needs: air, water, food, shelter, kinship, and love - which we need everyday, all the time - both day and night.

Sonnet-43

Line 7. She loves him not because someone told her to , but because of her own free will. This love is needed as much as a man needs freedom in order to gain happiness in life.

Line 8. She loves him without desire for praise, but for love itself.

Lines 9/10. She loves him as much as the intensity that suffering inflicts and with the blind faith of a child.

Lines 11/12. She loves him with the same intense feeling as the innocence she lost as she grew older.

Lines 13/14. She loves him with every breath she takes, every happiness and every sadness of her life. She will love him forever, and if God wills, even after life on earth. Her love for him will go on forever.


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