Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 22 “When our two souls stand up erect and strong”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 22 “When our two souls stand up erect and strong”

The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 22 “When our two souls stand up erect and strong” from “Sonnets from the Portuguese” contrasts the heaven created by the soul force of the lovers with the contrary state of worldly existence.

Introduction with Text of Sonnet 22 “When our two souls stand up erect and strong”

The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 22 “When our two souls stand up erect and strong” from Sonnets from the Portuguese is drawing a contrast between the paradisiacal state effected in the relationship between her beloved and herself and the oppositional state that a worldly existence has erected around them. 

In order to ennoble their growing relationship to its highest level, the speaker creates a description of the  melding of two souls. Instead of the mere, mundane marriage of minds and physical encasements as most ordinary human beings emphasize, this speaker is concerned with eternal verities. This speaker is engaged in creating a world within a world wherein the spiritual is more real than the material level of existence.

Sonnet 22 “When our two souls stand up erect and strong”

When our two souls stand up erect and strong,
Face to face, silent, drawing nigh and nigher,
Until the lengthening wings break into fire
At either curvèd point,—what bitter wrong
Can the earth do to us, that we should not long
Be here contented? Think. In mounting higher,
The angels would press on us and aspire
To drop some golden orb of perfect song
Into our deep, dear silence. Let us stay
Rather on earth, Belovèd,—where the unfit
Contrarious moods of men recoil away
And isolate pure spirits, and permit
A place to stand and love in for a day,
With darkness and the death-hour rounding it.

Commentary on Sonnet 22 “When our two souls stand up erect and strong”

In sonnet 22 “When our two souls stand up erect and strong,” the speaker is waxing ever more fanciful, painting a safe harbor for herself and her beloved as a loving couple whose union is heightened by the power and force of their souls.

First Quatrain:  Imagining a Wedding

When our two souls stand up erect and strong,
Face to face, silent, drawing nigh and nigher,
Until the lengthening wings break into fire
At either curvèd point,—what bitter wrong

The speaker dramatizes the couple’s wedding, fancying that their souls are standing and meeting as they draw closer and closer together in the silence facing each other. The couple resembles two angels who will merge into one. But before they merge, she allows the tips of their wings to catch fire as they form a curve in touching.

At first, the speaker’s other-worldly depiction seems to imply that she perceives that their love does not belong to this world, but the reader must remember that this speaker’s exaggeration often lowers expectations as much as it elevates them.  

This speaker is convinced that the two lovers are soul-mates; thus, she would stage their marriage first at the soul level, where nothing on earth could ever detract from their union.

Second Quatrain:  United by Soul

Can the earth do to us, that we should not long
Be here contented? Think. In mounting higher,
The angels would press on us and aspire
To drop some golden orb of perfect song

The speaker then asks the question, what could anyone or anything earthly do to hamper their happiness? Because they are united through soul force, even on earth they can “be here contented.”  Indeed, they could be content anywhere, for as the marriage vow declares, “what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6).

The speaker commands her belovèd to “think”; she wants him to reflect on the efficacy of remaining earth-bound in their love relationship.  If they allow themselves to ascend too high, then heavily beings might interfere with their engaging at the soul level with their beloved state of silence.  Silence at the soul level remains the best, most congenial locus for true love.

If an angel-like being intrudes with even some lovely sounding song, that intrusion would be too much for the couple during the sacred moments wherein they are becoming joined as one.

First Tercet:  Working out Karma

Into our deep, dear silence. Let us stay
Rather on earth, Belovèd,—where the unfit
Contrarious moods of men recoil away
And isolate pure spirits, and permit
A place to stand and love in for a day,
With darkness and the death-hour rounding it.

The speaker implies that they are not ready for total perfection; they must remain earthbound and contend with whatever circumstances other individuals might cause.  The negative repercussions that society might place upon this couple will have to be strongly rebuked they the couple in the here and how.

So they must remain earthbound and practical in order to put down any such rebellions against them.  However, the speaker is certain that the couple will be able to overcome all adversity offered by others, and their love will cause their adversaries to “recoil away.”

Second Tercet:   Better Together

And isolate pure spirits, and permit
A place to stand and love in for a day,
With darkness and the death-hour rounding it.

The speaker’s faith in the united soul force of the two lovers deems them “pure spirits,” and they will endure like a strong, self-sustaining island.  Their love will be “a place to stand and love in for a day.” Even though around them the darkness of earthly, worldly existence will trudge on, for them their haven will endure indefinitely.