Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 40 “Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 40 “Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!”

In sonnet 40 “Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!,” the speaker is  musing on love as a universal phenomenon and stressing her appreciation for the patient love of her belovèd suitor.

Introduction and Text of Sonnet 40 “Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!”

In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 40 “Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!” from Sonnets from the Portuguese, the speaker has discovered that her belovèd offers her the love that she finds most satisfying.

This special love demonstrates that it is unlike so many love behaviors and attitudes that have prevailed over the centuries all over the world.  Thus the speaker is musing on love as a general, universal phenomenon.  She then emphasizes her appreciation for the patient love of her belovèd suitor.

Sonnet 40 “Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!”

Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!
I will not gainsay love, called love forsooth.
I have heard love talked in my early youth,
And since, not so long back but that the flowers
Then gathered, smell still. Mussulmans and Giaours Throw kerchiefs at a smile, and have no ruth
For any weeping. Polypheme’s white tooth
Slips on the nut if, after frequent showers,
The shell is over-smooth,—and not so much
Will turn the thing called love, aside to hate,
Or else to oblivion. But thou art not such
A lover, my Belovèd! thou canst wait
Through sorrow and sickness, to bring souls to touch,
And think it soon when others cry “Too late.”

Commentary on Sonnet 40 “Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!”

The speaker is musing on love as a universal phenomenon and then places a special emphasis on her appreciation for the patient love she is experiencing from her belovèd suitor.

First Quatrain:  An Excited Outburst

Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!
I will not gainsay love, called love forsooth.
I have heard love talked in my early youth,
And since, not so long back but that the flowers

The speaker begins with an outburst, “Oh, yes!” She then reports that people love all over the world.   The musing speaker then claims that she will not speak ill of the concept of love, especially when the term is used correctly to mean love and not merely lust or sex.

The speaker then states that she remembers hearing people talk about love when she still a young girl, and even recently, she has also heard the word bandied about along with the gifts of flowers.   Yet, this speaker is painfully aware that at times that professed love has lasted only as long as the scent of the flowers.

Second Quatrain:  Different Ideologies on Love

Then gathered, smell still. Mussulmans and Giaours Throw kerchiefs at a smile, and have no ruth
For any weeping. Polypheme’s white tooth
Slips on the nut if, after frequent showers

Differing ideologies perceive love through varying lenses from the devout exemplified by the “Mussulmans” to the “Giaours” or other faiths considered infidels to the “Mussulmans.”   Each group has its own way of professing and conducting its behavior based on their respective beliefs.

Fanatics will continue in their fanaticism regardless of the evidence. Once smitten by love some folks will not let go of the object it deems worth its attention.   From classical mythology, the character Polypheme, who was obsessed with Galatea, offers an additional example of the varieties of behaviors motivated by love.

First Tercet:  Drawing a Contrast

The shell is over-smooth,—and not so much
Will turn the thing called love, aside to hate,
Or else to oblivion. But thou art not such

Nothing can turn these various lovers from their own folly. The speaker is especially interested in drawing a complete contrast between her lover and those others, whose obsessive and compulsive behaviors are never welcome in the name of love.  By comparing and contrasting the varied love stories through history, the speaker can demonstrate the quiet, gentle nature of her own belovèd inamorato.

Second Tercet:  Dramatizing a Favored Quality

A lover, my Belovèd! thou canst wait
Through sorrow and sickness, to bring souls to touch,
And think it soon when others cry “Too late.”

In the final analysis, the speaker dramatizes the best quality of her own belovèd fiancé.   This confident speaker can now assert that, ” . . . thou art not such // A lover, my Belovèd!” He is not one of those who dwell on superficial qualities.  

This speaker’s suitor practices patience; thus he can “wait / Through sorrow and sickness.”  More importantly, this speaker’s belovèd suitor is capable of looking to the soul to forge his adventure in love, “to bring souls to touch.” 

The speaker always reveals that she is more interested in the spiritual level of love than in the physical and mental.  This deep-thinking and creative speaker has realized that her belovèd suitor’s thinking is so different from those who seek the petty over the profound.   

This speaker is pleased to stress that he “think[s] it soon when others cry, ‘Too late’.”   Finding the right soul mate seems soon when one is focusing on the genuine instead of the counterfeit. The speaker is happy to celebrate her belovèd fiancé’s genuine and proper focus.