Elica Marie R.

Solon
HOW DO I LOVE THEE? LET ME COUNT THE WAYS.
Elizabeth Barrett 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 a 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.
Personally, I have long enjoyed this poem. The poem was introduced to me when
I was in my senior year in high school. I was at the height of my relationship with a guy
who was to become the father of my son. We were together for more than a year during
that time and this poem greatly described the feelings I had for my then-boyfriend.
Thinking that he was to study at a different region, the romance became very
passionate. And on his return, the feelings heightened and became overwhelming. The
poem, I believed and saw, was a great epitome of our flowering relationship.
The speaker (I) opens the poem by speaking to the other (lover) telling him that
there are different ways on how to describe the love the speaker feels for the other
one. I view this as me speaking to him, telling him that my love is true and it is
expressive. I heavily relate to this part because I firmly believe that love should be
expressed. I always make it a point to say to someone why and how I can and will love
him.
The rich images set forth by Browning embodied my heart that was full of love
and passion for another (my ex-boyfriend). It started by expressing that her love is
immeasurable and that the depth and breadth and height my SOUL can reach
embodies it. The soul being an abstract noun (no physical properties), measuring such
love and passion then becomes impossible. The same was true with how I felt back
then that my love for him was immeasurable and everlasting. I heavily related
because I used to feel the deep passion for him not only physically but the feelings I
have for him consumed all of me (physically, mentally, spiritually, psychologically).
The speaker then proceeds with I love thee to the level of everyday's most quiet
need, by sun and candle-light, which was also very striking for me. I related to this line
because I enjoyed thinking about him at night and day. This line had the effect (on me)
that the speaker (I) day-dreamed about the significant other in the morning and at night.
Moreover it is important to look deeper into this line. I love thee to the LEVEL OF

EVERYDAYS MOST QUIET NEED. Everyday there is a need for silence. That need, I
believe, is of great amount. Especially of the life we live in. The hustle and bustle of
everyday is deafening and the world never sleeps it never shuts up. The longing for
peace then becomes great.
I love thee freely, so the poem goes. This one becomes a hard one for me. At
this time, my parents were very strict and keen on rules. NO BOYFRIEND UNTIL
(COLLEGE) GRADUATION. I loved him unfreely. It was a line I hungered. It was
something that I dreamed of. It was a line that I obsessed over. I wanted to love him
freely to be able to walk on the streets without the fear of being caught, to be able to
text him without hiding my phone and deleting his messages, to be able to be with him
freely without fear. I had every right to be with him but we had to keep it hidden and that
was very hard for us. I wanted to love him freely. I envied this line.
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. Yes, I had nothing but love for him
back then. This line says it all. I loved him. I loved every inch of him, from the tip of his
hair down to his very toes. I respected him. I protected him. I loved him purely. I had
forgiven and forgotten everything, without the slightest hint of anger and pain and
revenge. I loved him.
I love thee with a passion put to use in my old griefs, and with my childhood's
faith. Ah. Passion. Yes, it was passionate indeed. Too passionate it had gotten. I trusted
him just as a child trusts an adult completely. I was passionate and in love. I had
forgotten reason (a passion put to use in my old griefs, childhoods faith) in loving him.
But what had really struck me most is how the speaker chose to heighten the end
of the poem. The end had the impression (upon me) that the feelings of the speaker
were not capable of being contained. It became like a burst of energy sprung forth from
the sun. I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life! The speaker has just
poetically stated that she loves the significant other with all of her. This line perfectly
portrayed the feelings that I had. It showed beautifully and gracefully that the feelings
were consuming the very inch of the speaker. The love was indeed overwhelming- the
speaker chooses to end the line with of all my life. The speaker has viewed that love
as the reason for everything: for every smile, for every breath, for every tear. The
significant other is the reason he is the destiny, the road that she was meant to travel.
And finally she expresses that her love is forever. That she has already made up
her mind to find solace and peace and forever with him and his love. That she has given
up all reason, all fights, everything. That she lifts up to the Lord the love and that puts in
Gods love the love that she has. That she is ever more willing to be with the significant
other until the very end of days.
And I, how do I love thee? I loved thee as wide as the sky that holds up the stars.
I loved thee as bright as the stars that shine from billions of lightyears away. He loved
me as soon as the stars light was quickly forgotten.