Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 21 “Say over again, and yet once over again”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 21 “Say over again, and yet once over again”

The speaker in Barrett Browning’s sonnet 21 “Say over again, and yet once over again” is becoming habituated to hearing her belovèd suitor tell her that he loves her.  Thus she acquires the audacity to demand of him that he express to her repeatedly those beautiful, majestic words.

Introduction with Text of Sonnet 21 “Say over again, and yet once over again”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s speaker in sonnet 21 “Say over again, and yet once over again” from Sonnets from the Portuguese seems to be speaking in an uncharacteristic manner, as she is sounding somewhat giddy. The speaker is encouraging her belovèd to keep on repeating these delicious words that she has so long craved to hear.

She is in a long but steady process of reforming her attitudinal behavior from a timid, unhealthily woman to one of happiness, contentment, and self-assuredness. The speaker is becoming habituated to listening to her suitor say those magic words to her—”I love you.” Thus she is playfully commanding him to continue to  repeat those beautiful words.

Sonnet 21 “Say over again, and yet once over again”

Say over again, and yet once over again,
That thou dost love me. Though the word repeated
Should seem “a cuckoo-song,” as thou dost treat it,
Remember, never to the hill or plain,
Valley and wood, without her cuckoo-strain
Comes the fresh Spring in all her green completed.
Belovèd, I, amid the darkness greeted
By a doubtful spirit-voice, in that doubt’s pain
Cry, “Speak once more—thou lovest!” Who can fear
Too many stars, though each in heaven shall roll,
Too many flowers, though each shall crown the year?
Say thou dost love me, love me, love me—toll
The silver iterance!—only minding, Dear,
To love me also in silence with thy soul.

Commentary on Sonnet 21 “Say over again, and yet once over again”

The speaker getting used to hearing to her belovèd suitor tell her that he loves her, and therefore, she begins to playfully demand to hear those magic words repeatedly from the lips of her adored mate.

First Quatrain:  Giddy with Love

Say over again, and yet once over again,
That thou dost love me. Though the word repeated
Should seem “a cuckoo-song,” as thou dost treat it,
Remember, never to the hill or plain,

The speaker playfully and with utmost respect begins to command of her beloved suitor that he continue to repeat to her the words of love that she has so long craved to hear from a companion in a love relationship.  She wants to hear him say he loves her “over again, and yet once over again.”

Although the speaker does admit that the repetition of the same words repeatedly over and over again may likely be thought of as a bit giddy and as vainly repetitious as the cuckoo bird’s outcries, she can justify her orders by insisting that nature itself is full of marvelous examples of repetition that is glorious.

The speaker then brings to mind for her belovèd and also for herself that the breathtaking beautiful season of spring never comes until the meadows and hills have become festooned and spread with the repetitions of the green that the woods and valleys also put on display and still further with the same silly cuckoo’s repetition of plaintive cries.

Second Quatrain:  Human Nature’s Over-Sensitivity

Valley and wood, without her cuckoo-strain
Comes the fresh Spring in all her green completed.
Belovèd, I, amid the darkness greeted
By a doubtful spirit-voice, in that doubt’s pain

The speaker is comparing the status of humanity to the machinations of nature in order to clarify and even rehabilitate human nature’s penchant for over-sensitivity.  She in particular wishes to make right her own penchant for being too sensitive.  

The speaker has become transformed by her feeling of delight in hearing her suitor declare his love for her repeatedly.  She is finally acquiring the ability to accept and believe in the truth of  his words. 

The speaker then feels it need to continue expressing herself in her newly acquired giddy state.   She feels justified in engaging in seeming frivolity to demand that her suitor keep on repeating his declarations of affection and love to her. She then abruptly lets him know that during the night her old melancholy and thought of gross negativity had accosted her and caused to return to doubt and sorrow.

Those returning doubts that caused pain have now motivated her to ask him to repeat his words that express his feelings for her.  She yearns to hear those lovely words again and again.  It is for this reason that she is so giddily adamant that he continue to repeat his words of love to her.

Likely, she feels that she must justify her seemingly erratic commands.  Her doubts, thus, remain part of her behavior despite the fact that she seems to have completely accepted as fact that her suitor does love her very much and that he holds her dearly in his heart.

First Tercet:   Too Many Stars or Flowers

Cry, “Speak once more—thou lovest!” Who can fear
Too many stars, though each in heaven shall roll,
Too many flowers, though each shall crown the year?

After her confession, the speaker positions an inquiry that further makes her feel more comfortable in repeating her demand to hear those words from the lips of her belovèd.  She insists that people would not likely be against “too many stars”  or even “too many flowers.”  

It is thus that the speaker feels there is no problem with her asking him to repeat his declamation.  She, in fact, wants to hear it repeatedly.  As stars and flowers repeat their presence in the cosmos, her little demand will leave little intrusion.

Second Tercet:  A Bold Request

Say thou dost love me, love me, love me—toll
The silver iterance!—only minding, Dear,
To love me also in silence with thy soul.

The second tercet finds the speaker  dramatizing the repetition as she repeats it herself: “Say thou dost love me, love me, love me.”  The speaker describes the repetition as a “silver iterance,” which asserts its quality as that of a bell.  The speaker has come to strongly desire to hear the “toll” of her lover’s “silver iterance!”

The speaker then offers a startling yet supremely appropriate command.  As much as she loves hearing aloud the words of love, she craves even more that her belovèd, “love me also in silence with thy soul.”  

Without her lover also loving her quietly in his soul, that love would be like a husk of corn with the grain—somewhat protective yet nutritionally useless.  Hearing the words is wonderful, but intuiting the love in the heart and soul is sublime.