HOW DO I LOVE THEE?

BY E L I Z A B E T H B A R R E T B R O W N I N G ( 1 8 0 6 - 1 8 1 6 )

BACKGROUND
Born in Durham, England, was the oldest of
twelve children and daughter of a strict father,
Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett, who owned sugar
plantations in Jamaica.
When fifteen, Elizabeth suffered a spinal injury
caused by saddling a pony, and became
addicted to pain relievers.
Being weak, she was sent with her brother
Edward to the sea of Torquay, where her brother
drowned to death, causing her to be emotionally
broken.


All the while she had been deep in reading and
writing poetry, and she had published some
anonymous works which received much
unexpected praise. She continued to write,
despite her depressed state, but refused to
leave her house for the next five years.
During this time, she produced a collection known
as Poems, which caught the eye of a poet who
she had mentioned in her poems, Robert
Browning.


The two privately exchanged over 500
love letters in the subsequent months,
Elizabeths poems being classified as
Sonnets from the Portuguese, ranked
among the most famous collections of love
lyrics in English history. One of these
poems was known as How Do I Love
Thee?


It is addressed to her husband, who used to call
her 'My little Portuguese" as she was dark.

HOW DO I LOVE THEE?

BY ELIZABETH BARRET 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 everydays
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.

STRUCTURE
Sonnet
Petrarchan (but does not follow normal
structure)
There is no clear break between octave
and sestet.
Begins with a rhetorical
question.
Rest of the poem answers
the question.

Petrarchan sonnet structure

A
B First
quatrain
B
A(4 lines)

STATEMENT

A
Second
B
Quatrain
B
(4 lines)
A
C First
D tercet
E
C First
D tercet
E

COUNTER
STATEMENT

Turn/volta
a change in
direction of
argument or
narrative

TITLE
The question in the title and the first line:
'How do I love thee?'
The poet dedicates the rest of the poem
to answering her own question and
expressing the ways in which she loves
her partner.

THEMES
True love overcomes all and is eternal in
nature.
True love can be profound, deep and
moving; a spiritual experience.
The expression of love for another
person can lift life above the mundane.
There is hope that great love exists
beyond the grave; that a truly great love
can never die.

TONE AND MOOD

Sincere, passionate, idealistic.
She shares her feelings
honestly and openly.

ANALYSIS OCTAVE

LINE 1 -2
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
Rhetorical Q
Does not expect
answer speaker
lists the ways

Repeated; (anaphora)
builds rhythm, emphasises
love/infatuation with
partner

Hyperbole
exaggeration
reinforces the poets
intense belief in the
extent of her love

Enjambment
(increases pace)
love reaches far
and wide

LINE 3 - 4
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
Finds the goal of being
alive
Capital letters strong
feelings toward religion.
Not trapped by limits of
body
Personification and
Apostrophe
- spiritual/religious words 'grace',
'praise', 'saint' and 'God - woman's
love is deep and true, compares
with Gods grace

has feelings of love

beyond her scope of
vision (spiritual realm)
- beyond what she can
see or perceive.

LINE 5 - 6
I love thee to the level of everydays
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
Merely breathing
needs to love him
like need to
breathe

Alliteration of l
sound

Metonymy
connotation of night and
day - loves her partner not
only during the day but
during the dark hours of
the night too
Love is continuous

Entire day is
spent with
partner in mind

LINE 7 - 8
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

not compelled or forced to

love, own intention.

Alliterati
on of p
spound

Not corrupt, does not

expect praise

slavery occurring
during the 19th
century, not all
men have equal
rights.
Strife for justice
and fairness

Right and Praise =

Personification and
Apostrophe

ANALYSIS SESTET

LINE 9 - 10
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhoods faith.
Jesuss suffering is
referred to in Christian
faith as The Passion
intensity equal to that
experienced during suffering
or mourning

sense of love
is idealistic
and
unchallenged,
blind faith like
a child

LINE 11 - 12
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,

Euphemism
- Reference to
speakers dead
mother and
brother
Edward

Alliteration of l
sound
She loves her
husband the same as
she loved her dead
mother and brother.

LINE 13 - 14
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

No matter
what, love
will always
be strong

If God wills to put both in Heaven, or

both in Hell, at least they will be able to
be with each other in order to love after
death.
After death, if it is even physically
possible and if God chooses her to have
the ability, then she will choose to love
Robert more after her death.

ANSWERS
1. The poet loves with her whole soul. She loves
him for fulfilling her completely, every hour of
the day. She loves him honourably. She loves
him without asking for flattery or praise. She
loves him with all the emotion she experienced
when she lost people se loved. She loves him
with a love she believes , with Gods will, will
last for all eternity.
2. a Metonymy
b Sun implies day sunlight being associated
with and representing day. Candlelight implies
night - a need for artificial light.


3. Depth ; breadth; height
4. The word suggests the higher ideals of human
beings; the belief in things that are honourable;
acting according to ones conscience.
5. False, she knows exactly because she says let
me count the ways and she then goes on to list
them.
6. B