Sonnets from the Portuguese 43: How do I love thee?

means that cause of what is causing those changes in

Let me count the ways the story. Climax is the peak of the story. It can be like
Launch Audio in a New Window take a decision/ action for conflict. Falling action is
BY ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING when the moment in the story is going to be cleared.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. The last are resolution when story has happy or good
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height ending and denouement (when story has sad ending).
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace. In The Gift of The Magi, the expostion happens when
I love thee to the level of every days the main character is introduced. There was a woman
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. named Della. She was counting her money and
I love thee freely, as men strive for right; realized that it was not enough to byu a present for
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. Jim, her husband. She felt really sad that the next day
I love thee with the passion put to use would be Christmas and she still did not know what to
In my old griefs, and with my childhoods faith. do. She really wanted to buy Jim a present.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose Image is taken from:
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, http://greeneroomproductions.com/portfolio-
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, item/the-gift-of-the-magi/
I shall but love thee better after death. After exposition, the story goes on to rising action. It
A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF O HENRYS THE GIFT OF THE happens when Della was totally in deep confussion
MAGI about what she could do. She only got $1.87 as the
By Shavira Sarashita result after she had saved every pennies for months.
She knew that $1.87 would never be enough for such
O-Henry (September 11 1862- june 5, 1910) is a famous a great present. She cried for a while but then she
American writer whose real name is William Sydney found out that she had to take a risk. It is told that
Porter . O-Henrys short stories are known for their wit, Della had an extremely long brown hair. She
wordplay, warm characterization, and clever twist immediately went out of her house and searched for
endings. The Gift Of The Magi is one of interesting any store that would buy her hair. While she was
short story which is I have already read. Therefore, I walking through the street, she suddenly stopped
decided to chose this short story as my mid-term since she read a sign said Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods
paper. In this paper I will be explaining all of the of All Kinds. She rushed into the store, met a woman
elements in this short story and those elements are named Madame Sofronie, and asked her if she
plot, arrangement, point of view, narrator, character wanted to buy her hair. Madame Sofronie then
and settings. examined her hair and quickly told Della that her hair
was worth $20. After Della got the money, she went to
Analysis a store where she finally found the right present for
Plot Jim. It was a simple platinum fob chain, and she
Plot is artistic arrangement or a design of events in a thought it would be perfect for Jims watch. The chain
story or plot could be interpreted the main events of a reflects the simplicity and quietness of Jim. Della
play, novel, movie, or similar work, devised and bought it for $21 and got back home with her 87
presented by the writer as an interrelated sequence. cents.
Plot can be found in the beginning of the story or in The rising action always lead the story to the climax.
the end of the story. But usually plot can be found in The climax in this story happens when Jim finally went
the beginning of the story. In pursuance of Freys tag home from work. Seeing his wifes hair cut off, he
pyramid a plot of story consist of exposition, suddenly just stand still at his place without being
complication, rising action, climax, falling action, and angry, surprised, or disapproval. He asked his wife to
resolution or denouement. Exposition is introducing of make sure that her hair had been really gone. Della
character in the story. And it can be interpreted cried and told him that she cut it off and sold it.
starting of the situation in the story and, beside of
introducing of character in the story exposition can The climax goes down to the falling action. The falling
introducing of setting, background, etc. complication action in this story is when Jim took out a package
is introducing of conflict in the story. There are two from his coat and spoke to Della. He seemed to feel
kinds of conflict; first is external and the second is alright. He did not mind about Dellas short hair. He
internal. External conflict happens between character, asked Della to unwrap the package to make Della
and the character and society. Internal conflict the understand why Jim was like that at the first time he
inner conflict is within a character. Here, there is the saw Della. She opened the package and cried
situation/new character/changes of hysterically. It was a set of comb made of pure tortoise
personality/changes from one of character in the shell with jewelled rims. It was all that she had
story. Rising action is continuation from complication dreamed for long time. After that, Della gave Jim the
chain that she bought, and asked him to try it on his character since she tends to be the only complement
watch. However, Jim did not obey that. He threw character.
himself on a couch and smiled. Setting
The definition of a setting in a story is where the story
The ending of the story can be considered as takes place and when the story happens. Every story
resolution since Jim and Della were happy in the end. has a setting. Moreover, setting it is not only about
Jim finally told his wife to put the presents away for a place. Year, day, month, in the morning, or even the
while and stated that they were too nice to be just a story shows a time such as 00.00 these are include
present. While sitting on the couch, he told Della that setting and the name of those are time setting.
he had sold his watch to buy the comb set for Della. In The Gift of The Magi, the story takes place at Della
Now, Jim asked his wife to prepare the dinner for them and Jims house, Madame Sofronies store, and the
both. store where Della got the chain for the present. It took
Characters place at Della and Jims house when Della was
Character is personality or attitude for a person in counting her money to buy a perfect present for Jim,
story. The types of character are divided into two and when Della and Jim were finally meeting and
categories there are role and personality. from role are talking about their presents in the end of the story.
divided into two major and minor characters. Next, it took place at Madame Sofronies store when
Meanwhile from personality, there are flat, round, Della finally decided to cut her hair off and sold it to
static, dynamic, stock, hero, anti-hero, and allusion. Madame Sofronie for $20. Lastly, there was one store
when Della finally found the platinum fob chain to be
There are major and minor characters in the story the right present for Jim.
based on their roles. Della and Jim is the major
characters. Della is considered to be the major The time setting of the story is considered to be in a
character since she is the one who appears from the Christmas Eve since it was explained that Della was
beginning until the end of the story. It seems that the confused about what she was going to buy Jims
beginning of the story is telling about Dellas Christmas present on the following day. Specifically, it
confussion to buy present for Jim, her husband until was in the afternoon when Della was counting money,
she finally did a sacrifice in order to be able to buy a going to Madame Sofronies store, and buying the fob
nice present. Meanwhile, Jim can be also said that he chain for Jims watch. In the end, it seemed to be in
is major character as he is another person who has a the evening when Della and Jim finally met and talked
relationship with Della, the first major character. Jim about their presents.
also has interactions with Della that create a good Point of view
flow of the story. Besides, there is actually one minor
character. She is Madame Sofronie who was the Definition of point of view is the position of the narrator
woman buying Dellas hair for $20. The reason why she which is relation to the story, as indicated by the
is the minor character is that she only appeared in the narrators outlook from which the events are depicted
middle of the story for a moment. and from the attitude towards the character. There
are two types of narrator, which are participant and
The next explanation is based the characters non-participant narrator. Participant narrator takes a
personality. There are only three kinds of characters, role in the story. It tells the story from the first person
which are flat, dynamic, static, and stock characters. point of view and uses the pronoun I while non-
Della is dynamic character in the story since her participant narrator does not take any role in the story.
physical appearance changed in the end of the story. It only tells the story from the third person point of view
In the beginning, it is described that she has a and uses the pronoun she, he, it, and names as
beautiful long brown hair. It looked like a brown well. Non-participant narrator is also divided into three
waterfall. However, she cut off her hair in order to buy branch, which are omniscient or all-knowing, limited
a present for her husband, so her hair became very omniscience, and objective.
short. Besides, Della is a flat character since her way to
interact with other characters throughout the story The narrator of The Gift of The Magi is non-
tends to be the same from the beginning until the end. participant. It uses the limited omniscience third
person point of view. The narrator tells the story by
Next, Jim can be considered as a flat and static using the pronoun she, he, it, and names to
character. Jims way of talking remains the same since mention all the characters and other things. It is
he only appeared almost in the end of the story. He is considered to be limited omniscience as the narrator
static character because his physical appearance did only knows all about the major characters, which are
not change at all. The last kind is stock character, Della and Jim. The narrator explains the physical
which is Madame Sofronie. She is considered as stock appearance and all the feelings of Della and Jim.
 Theme
As definition theme is the central idea or ideas
explored by a literary work. Usually themes of the story
have more one theme. Themes of the story could be
themes of death, themes of revenge, themes of
action and many more. It can be said The Gift of The
Magi has the theme Sacrifice sometimes can be
pointless. I could tell that since Dellas sacrifice to cut
her hair off to buy the chain for Jims watch became
pointless because in the end, Jim told Della that he
had sold his valuable watch to buy her a set of comb.
Unfortunately, Dellas hair was now very short. In
conclusion, their sacrifice does not make any result.
THE GIFT OF THE MAGI ANALYSIS
Literary Devices in The Gift of the Magi
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
There's not a whole lot of imagery or metaphor in this
story. That makes the few Bible allusions stand out all
the more. There's the whole "magi" reference. The last
paragraph compares Jim and Dell...
Setting
The narrator calls our attention almost immediately to
the two most important details of the story's setting: it
takes place on a Christmas Eve, and its two main
characters live in a very unassumin...
Narrator Point of View
Technically, the story seems to be third person limited
omniscient. It's told in the third-person, and only follows
Della. We don't see what Jim is doing during the story,
and once he does show up,...
Genre
The key feature of a parable is that it uses a situation,
which feels very simple to make a more complex or
general point, often a moral one. (Also, unlike a fable,
a parable does this with people,...
Tone
The narrator of "Gift of the Magi" is not a character,
but he's certainly not a neutral observer either. Rather,
he comes across distinctively as a person, and one
who's telling you a story, maybe...
Writing Style
The story is narrated as if someone were telling it to
you aloud. How does O. Henry achieve this effect?
Basically he breaks grammar rules. There are lots of
sentences that aren't really sentences,...
What's Up With the Title?
"The Gift of the Magi" is about a young couple who
sacrifice everything they have of value to give each
other the best Christmas present. And who invented
the practice of giving Christmas presents...
What's Up With the Ending?
O. Henry is known for his "twist endings," and the
ending of "The Gift of the Magi" is probably the most
famous of them all. At the end of the story Della cuts
and sells her hair to buy Jim a chain...
Tough-o-Meter
"The Gift of the Magi" is a blissfully simple, short story. It's
written as if an wise old man were telling you the story
orally, and so it feels much more casual than your
average piece of literar...
Plot Analysis
"One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all."
(1)The story's opening sentences confront us right
away with the problem: Della only has $1.87 to buy a
Christmas present, and it's Christmas Eve....
Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis
Della wants to buy Jim a suitably amazing Christmas
gift, but doesn't have any money.We learn right away
what Della's "quest" is: to find the perfect present for
Jim. We also know the problem she f...
Three Act Plot Analysis
It's Christmas Eve. Della needs to buy Jim a suitably
spectacular present, but only has $1.87. While she
bursts into tears we learn the details of Della and Jim's
situation. Once she's back to her...
Trivia
Where did the name "O. Henry" actually come from?
In an interview with the New York Times, William
Sydney Porter (the author who wrote under the pen
name of O. Henry) gave two different explanation...
Steaminess Rating
Would you really expect there to be sex in a classic
heart-warming Christmas story that has spawned
countless children's TV specials? Nope.
Allusions
Queen of Sheba (9)King Solomon (9)The Magi (34, 45)
O. Henry (1862 - 1910) was born under the
name William Sydney Porter in Greensboro, North
Carolina in 1862. This Amercian Short Story writer has a
rich canon and his short stories are well known
throughout the world; noted for their witticism, clever
wordplay, and unexpected twist endings.
Like many other writers, O. Henry's early career
aspirations were unfocused and he wandered across
different activities and professions before he finally
found his calling as a short story writer. He started
working in his uncle's drugstore in 1879 and became a
licensed pharmacist by the age of 19. His first creative
expressions came while working in the pharmacy
where he would sketch the townspeople that
frequented the store. The customers reacted warmly
to his drawings and he was admired for his artistry and
drawing skills.
O. Henry moved to Texas in March of 1882 hoping to
get rid of a persistent cough that he had developed.
While there, he took up residence on a sheep ranch,
learned shepherding, cooking, babysitting, and bits of
Spanish and German from the many migrant
farmhands. He had an active social life in Austin and
was a fine musician, skilled with the guitar and
mandolin. Over the next several years, Porter -- as he
was still known -- took a number of different jobs, from
pharmacy to drafting, journalism, and banking.
Here's where the twists and turns really started.
Banking, in particular, was not to be O. Henry's calling;
he was quite careless with his bookkeeping, fired by
the bank and charged with embezzlement in 1894. His
father-in-law posted bail for him, but he fled the day
before the trial in 1896, first to New Orleans, then to
Honduras, where there was no extradition treaty. He
befriended a notorious train robber there, Al Jennings,
who later wrote a book about their friendship. O.
Henry sent his wife and daughter back to Texas, after
which he holed up in a hotel to write Kings and
Cabbages. He learned his wife was dying of
tuberculosis and could not join him in Honduras, so he
returned to Austin to be with them and turned himself
in to the court. His father-in-law again posted his bail
so he could remain with his wife until her death in 1897.
We was sentenced and served in Federal prison in
Ohio for five years from 1989-1902. During his jail time,
he returned to practicing pharmacy and had a room
in the hospital, never having to live in a cell.
O. Henry was always a lover of classic literature, and
while pursuing his many ventures, O. Henry had begun
writing as a hobby. When he lost his banking position
he moved to Houston in 1895 and started writing for
the The Post, earning $25 per month (an average
salary at this time in American history was probably
about $300 a year, less than a dollar a day). O. Henry
collected ideas for his column by loitering in hotel
lobbies and observing and talking to people there. He
relied on this technique to gain creative inspiration
throughout his writing career; which is a fun fact to
keep in mind while reading an imaginative
masterpiece of a story like Transients in Arcadia. The
many twists and turns of his own life, including his
travels in Latin America and time spent in prison,
clearly inspired his stories' twists and wordplay.
O. Henry's prolific writing period began in 1902 in New
York City, where he wrote 381 short stories. He wrote
one story a week for The New York World Sunday
Magazine for over a year. Some of his best and least
known work is contained in Cabbages and Kings, his
first collection of published stories, set in a central
American town, in which sub-plots and larger plots are
interwoven in an engaging manner. His second
collection of stories, The Four Million, was released in
1906. The stories are set in New York City, and the title
is based on the population of the city at that time. The
collection contained several short story masterpieces,
including The Gift of the Magi, The Cop and the
Anthem, and many others. Henry had an obvious
affection for New York City, a reverence that rises up
through some of these stories.
O. Henry's trademark is his witty, plot-twisting endings,
and his warm characterization of the awkward and
difficult situations and the creative ways people find to
resolve them. His most famous short story, The Gift of
the Magi, epitomizes his style. It's a story about a
young married couple, short on money, who wish to
buy each other Christmas gifts. That problem -- their
lack of funds -- finds a famously endearing and ironic
resolution.
The Cop and the Anthem is about A New York City
hobo with a creative solution for dealing with the cold
city streets during winter. Another story, A Retrieved
Reformation, is about a safecracker Jimmy Valentine,
fresh from prison, whose life takes an unexpected turn
while casing his next crime scene. The Ransom of Red
Chief, a story about two hapless kidnappers that
snatch the wrong boy. All of these stories are highly
entertaining and they are read for pleasure and used
in classrooms around the world.
In 1952 Marilyn Monroe and Charles Laughton starred
in O. Henry's Full House, a film featuring five stories of
O. Henry's short stories. The film included The Cop and
the Anthem and four other O. Henry stories: The
Clarion Call, The Last Leaf, The Ransom of Red
Chief(starring Fred Allen and Oscar Levant), and The
Gift of the Magi.
Unfortunately, O. Henry's personal tragedy was heavy
drinking and by 1908 his health had deteriorated and
his writing dropped off accordingly. He died in 1910 of
cirrhosis of the liver, complications of diabetes, and an
enlarged heart. The funeral was held in New York City,
but he was buried in North Carolina, the state where
he was born. He was a gifted short story writer and left
us a rich legacy of great stories to enjoy.
Born in 1806 at Coxhoe Hall, Durham, England,
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet of
the Romantic Movement. The oldest of twelve
children, Elizabeth was the first in her family born in
England in over two hundred years. For centuries, the
Barrett family, who were part Creole, had lived in
Jamaica, where they owned sugar plantations and
relied on slave labor. Elizabeths father, Edward Barrett
Moulton Barrett, chose to raise his family in England,
while his fortune grew in Jamaica. Educated at home,
Elizabeth apparently had read passages
from Paradise Lost and a number of Shakespearean
plays, among other great works, before the age of
ten. By her twelfth year, she had written her first epic
poem, which consisted of four books of rhyming
couplets. Two years later, Elizabeth developed a lung
ailment that plagued her for the rest of her life. Doctors
began treating her with morphine, which she would
take until her death. While saddling a pony when she
was fifteen, Elizabeth also suffered a spinal injury.
Despite her ailments, her education continued to
flourish. Throughout her teenage years, Elizabeth
taught herself Hebrew so that she could read the Old
Testament; her interests later turned to Greek studies.
Accompanying her appetite for the classics was a
passionate enthusiasm for her Christian faith. She
became active in the Bible and Missionary Societies of
her church.
In 1826, Elizabeth anonymously published her
collection An Essay on Mind and Other Poems. Two
years later, her mother passed away. The slow
abolition of slavery in England and mismanagement of
the plantations depleted the Barrettss income, and in
1832, Elizabeths father sold his rural estate at a public
auction. He moved his family to a coastal town and
rented cottages for the next three years, before
settling permanently in London. While living on the sea
coast, Elizabeth published her translation
of Prometheus Bound (1833), by the Greek dramatist
Aeschylus.
Gaining attention for her work in the 1830s, Elizabeth
continued to live in her fathers London house under
his tyrannical rule. He began sending Elizabeths
younger siblings to Jamaica to help with the familys
estates. Elizabeth bitterly opposed slavery and did not
want her siblings sent away. During this time, she
wrote The Seraphim and Other Poems (1838),
expressing Christian sentiments in the form of classical
Greek tragedy. Due to her weakening disposition, she
was forced to spend a year at the sea of Torquay
accompanied by her brother Edward, whom she
referred to as Bro. He drowned later that year while
sailing at Torquay, and Browning returned home
emotionally broken, becoming an invalid and a
recluse. She spent the next five years in her bedroom
at her fathers home. She continued writing, however,
and in 1844 produced a collection entitled
simply Poems. This volume gained the attention of
poet Robert Browning, whose work Elizabeth had
praised in one of her poems, and he wrote her a letter.
Elizabeth and Robert, who was six years her junior,
exchanged 574 letters over the next twenty months.
Immortalized in 1930 in the play The Barretts of
Wimpole Street, by Rudolf Besier (1878-1942), their
romance was bitterly opposed by her father, who did
not want any of his children to marry. In 1846, the
couple eloped and settled in Florence, Italy, where
Elizabeths health improved and she bore a son,
Robert Wideman Browning. Her father never spoke to
her again. Elizabeths Sonnets from the Portuguese,
dedicated to her husband and written in secret before
her marriage, was published in 1850. Critics generally
consider the Sonnetsone of the most widely known
collections of love lyrics in Englishto be her best work.
Admirers have compared her imagery
to Shakespeare and her use of the Italian form
to Petrarch.
Political and social themes embody Elizabeths later
work. She expressed her intense sympathy for the
struggle for the unification of Italy in Casa Guidi
Windows (1848-1851) and Poems Before
Congress (1860). In 1857 Browning published her verse
novel Aurora Leigh, which portrays male domination
of a woman. In her poetry she also addressed the
oppression of the Italians by the Austrians, the child
labor mines and mills of England, and slavery, among
other social injustices. Although this decreased her
popularity, Elizabeth was heard and recognized
around Europe.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning died in Florence on June
29,
ictorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning is perhaps best
known for her 'Sonnets From the Portuguese' and
'Aurora Leigh' as well as the love story between her
and fellow poet Robert Browning.
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LITERATURE
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Synopsis
Born in 1806, Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning
published her first major collection, The Seraphim and
Other Poems, in 1838. Her collection Poems (1844)
caught the attention of fellow poet Robert Browning,
whose admiring letter to her led to a lifelong romance
and marriage. The couple moved to Italy, where
Elizabeth became interested in Italian politics and
released her monumental work, Sonnets From the
Portuguese in 1850.
Early Life
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6, 1806,
at Coxhoe Hall, Durham, England. She was the oldest
of 12 children, and her family made their fortune from
Jamaican sugar plantations. Educated at home,
Barrett was a precocious reader and writer. Having
delved into classics such as the works of John
Milton and William Shakespeare before her teen years,
she also wrote her first book of poetry by age 12.
Deeply religious, Barretts writing often explored
Christian themes, a trait that would remain throughout
her lifes works.
Emerging Writer
At age 14, Barrett developed a lung illness that
required her to take morphine for the rest of her life,
and the following year, she suffered a spinal injury that
would serve as another setback. Despite her health
issues, Barrett lived the literary life to the fullest,
teaching herself Hebrew, studying Greek culture and
publishing her first book in 1820, The Battle of
Marathon, which her father bound and released
privately.
In 1826, she (anonymously) published the collection An
Essay on Mind and Other Poems, which became a
touchstone in her writing career. Unfortunately, fate
would throw more obstacles her way soon after its
release. Barretts mother died two years later and her
fathers business foundered, forcing him to sell their
estate. The family eventually settled in London, but the
interruption never gave Barrett pause. Soon after the
estate was sold, she published her translation of
Aeschyluss Prometheus Bound (1833), and in 1838, she
published The Seraphim and Other Poems.
Barretts poor health forced her to live with her brother
Edward near the Sea of Torquay for a period, but
tragedy would strike again when he drowned, and
she returned to London, emotionally and physically
shattered. Whether it was despite or because of her
continued struggles, Barrett continued writing, and in
1844 her collection titled Poems was published.
Besides catching the eye of the reading public, it also
drew the attention of established English poet Robert
Browning. Browning wrote Barrett a letter, and the pair
exchanged nearly 600 letters over the following 20
months, which culminated in their elopement in 1846.
Barretts father was very much against the marriage,
and he never spoke with his daughter again.
Established Poet
In 1849, the Brownings' only child, Robert Wiedeman
Barrett Browning, was born in Florence, Italy, the
couples newly adopted country. A year later, Barrett
Browning released Sonnets From the Portuguese, a
collection of 44 love sonnets that would become one
of her seminal works and one of the greatest
sequences of sonnets in history. The collection was
dedicated to Browning and written in secret during
their courtship. "Sonnet 43" begins with How do I love
thee? Let me count the ways, a line that itself would
have sealed Barrett Brownings place in the literary
canon if all else had somehow failed to do so.
"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." -- Elizabeth Barrett Browning / How Do I Love
Thee? (Sonnet 43)
Life in Florence was good to the poets creative
process, as was the roiling political and social
atmosphere in Italy. She published the politically
charged poem "Casa Guidi Windows" in 1851. Barrett
Browning followed it up in 1856 with Aurora Leigh (a
blank-verse novel/poem), which is her longest
work, and then Poems Before Congress in 1860.
Included in the Poems Before Congress collection is A
Curse for a Nation, which criticized slavery in America
(although she doesn't specifically mention the
country's name). The Boston abolitionist
publication, The Independent, first published the
poem in 1856.
She could never overcome her generally weak
constitution though, and Barrett Browning died in
Florence on June 29, 1861 at the age of 55 as one of
the most beloved poets of the Romantic Movement.
A summary of a famous Victorian poem
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. One of
the most famous opening lines in all of English love
poetry. Yet how much do we really know about this
poem? Who can quote the second line, for instance?
The poet who wrote this sonnet, Elizabeth Barrett
Browning, is now overshadowed by the work of her
husband, Robert Browning, so its worth delving a little
deeper into this love poem, by way of close textual
analysis.
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.
The poem is a famous one or at least its first line is
but the poet who wrote it is less famous now as a poet
in her own right, and more familiar as the husband of
Robert Browning, whom she courted through a series
of extraordinary love letters in the 1840s. It was not
always this way. Once upon a time, Robert Browning
was the struggling obscure poet and Elizabeth Barrett
Browning was the one who, upon Wordsworths death create a tender love poem that is infused with spiritual
in 1850, was considered for the post of Poet Laureate. language, to suggest a love that is pure (childhoods
(In the end, Tennyson got the job.) But after Barrett faith) and deep (the ends of being and ideal
Brownings untimely death in 1861, Robert Brownings grace).
star rose while the posthumous reputation of his wife How do I love thee? Let me count the ways remains
declined. Who can now name the title of an Elizabeth a widely anthologised love poem, but deeper analysis
Barrett Browning poem? Her long verse novel Aurora of its form and further delving into its origins reveal
Leigh, perhaps? Or her powerful indictment of slavery, something that is much more than just a soppy love
The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point? No, her poetic poem. The poem fuses devotional verse with the
legacy in the popular imagination has shrunk to just language of love poetry to produce something the
ten words: How do I love thee? Let me count the Victorians took to their hearts, which has remained a
ways. mainstream favourite among anthologists and fans of
Even those ten words arent indelibly linked to Barrett classic love poetry.
Browning herself. Many people mistakenly attribute Image: Portrait of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (The
them to Shakespeare, and even a notable film, 10 Roycrofters, 1916), Wikimedia Commons.
Things I Hate about You which borrowed its plot
loosely from Shakespeares The Taming of the Shrew
used as its Shakespearean tagline: How do I loathe
thee? Let me count the ways.
But the poem is not one of Shakespeares addressed
to the Fair Youth, but rather a love poem written about
Barrett Brownings own beloved, Robert. The poem
was first published in a sonnet sequence, Sonnets from
the Portuguese, in 1850, though the poems that make
up the sequence were written around five years
earlier. Its a little-known fact that the first ever sonnet
sequence in English was written by a woman, and
throughout history the sonnet sequence has tended to
be associated with male poets: Petrarch, Sir Philip
Sidney, Shakespeare, George Meredith. And although
Barrett Brownings title sounds as though she is
translating poems written by some Portuguese
sonneteer, that title Sonnets from the Portuguese was
in fact a little in-joke: Portuguese was Roberts
affectionate nickname for Elizabeth, so these sonnets
are from her and her alone: sonnets from Roberts
beloved Portuguese.
In terms of its form, upon closer analysis we realise that
Barrett Brownings poem is not even a Shakespearean
sonnet but a Petrarchan one,
rhymed abbaabbacdcdcd. She uses anaphora
repetition of the same few words at the beginning of
successive sentences or clauses to explore, in
summary, the various forms that love can take, and
the many ways in which she loves Robert. Robert is
figured as almost Christ-like: he inspires in Elizabeth a
love I seemed to lose / With my lost saints, as if love for
him has taken the place of religious worship. There is a
strong religious vein to the poem: My soul, my
childhoods faith, lost saints, culminating in the final
declaration of hope in the afterlife: and, if God
choose, / I shall but love thee better after death. After
all, I love you was a clich when Barrett Browning
took up her pen, and she was confronted with the
same problem which has plagued love poets since
time immemorial something that Carol Ann Duffy
tackled through creating a collage of quotations from
famous love poems. Barrett Browning found a way to