Linda's Literary Home

Category: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 44 “Belovèd, thou hast brought me many flowers”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – NPG, London

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 44 “Belovèd, thou hast brought me many flowers”

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s final sonnet 44 “Belovèd, thou hast brought me many flowers”  from the sequence assures her belovèd that she has finally accepted his gift of love.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 44 “Belovèd, thou hast brought me many flowers”

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s final sonnet from the Sonnets from the Portuguese sequence assures her belovèd that she has finally accepted his gift of love.  Sonnet 44 “Belovèd, thou hast brought me many flowers” is the final poem, which completes this remarkable sequence of love poems.  

    This sonnet finds the speaker musing on the flowers that her belovèd has brought to her.   The speaker quickly transforms the physical blossoms into metaphysical blooms that symbolize the lovers’ bond.

    After all the handwringing of self-doubt that has plagued the speaker throughout this sequence, she must now find a way to assure both herself and her belovèd that her mind set has transformed itself from the dull negative to a shining positive.  The speaker must show her fiancé that they are bound together with an exceptional love.  She must also make it clear that she understands the strong ties they now possess.

    The speaker’s metaphoric comparison of the love gifts of  physical flowers and the symbolic flowers that she has created from her own heart soil will remain an eternal reminder to both herself and her belovèd as they travel the road of marriage together.

    Sonnet 44 “Belovèd, thou hast brought me many flowers”

    Belovèd, thou hast brought me many flowers
    Plucked in the garden, all the summer through
    And winter, and it seemed as if they grew
    In this close room, nor missed the sun and showers.
    So, in the like name of that love of ours,
    Take back these thoughts which here unfolded too,
    And which on warm and cold days I withdrew
    From my heart’s ground. Indeed, those beds and bowers
    Be overgrown with bitter weeds and rue,
    And wait thy weeding; yet here’s eglantine,
    Here’s ivy!—take them, as I used to do
    Thy flowers, and keep them where they shall not pine
    Instruct thine eyes to keep their colors true,
    And tell thy soul their roots are left in mine.

    Commentary on Sonnet 44 “Belovèd, thou hast brought me many flowers”

    The final sonnet in the sequence assures the speaker’s belovèd that she has finally accepted his gift of love, without any further doubts.

    First Quatrain:  A Gift of Flowers

    Belovèd, thou hast brought me many flowers
    Plucked in the garden, all the summer through
    And winter, and it seemed as if they grew
    In this close room, nor missed the sun and showers.

    The speaker muses about the flowers that her belovèd has given her during summer. To her it seems that the flowers have remained as vibrant indoors in her “close room” as they were outside in the “sun and showers.” 

    These miraculous flowers seem to have remained healthy and glowing even during winter.  The speaker then insists that they “grew / In this close room” and that they did not miss “the sun and showers.” 

    Of course, the physical flowers are just the motivation for the musing, which transforms the physical blooms into flowers of a metaphysical sort—those that have impressed images upon her soul, beyond the image on the retina.

    Second Quatrain:   Sonnets as Flower-Thoughts

    So, in the like name of that love of ours,
    Take back these thoughts which here unfolded too,
    And which on warm and cold days I withdrew
    From my heart’s ground. Indeed, those beds and bowers

    Thus the speaker commands her belovèd to “take back these thoughts which here unfolded too.” She is referring to her sonnets, which are her flower-thoughts given to her belovèd to honor their love. 

    The speaker affirms that she has plucked her sonnet-flowers “from [her] heart’s ground.” And the creative speaker has composed her tributes on “warm and cold days.” 

    The weather in the speaker’s heart and soul was always equal to producing fine blossoms for her loved one.   As the speaker basked in his love, the flower “beds and bowers” produced these poems with floral fragrance and hues.

    First Tercet:  Correcting Her Clumsiness

    Be overgrown with bitter weeds and rue,
    And wait thy weeding; yet here’s eglantine,
    Here’s ivy!—take them, as I used to do

    The speaker then inserts her usual self-deprecatory thoughts, admitting that her floral efforts are surely, “overgrown with bitter weeds and rue,” but she gladly submits them for him to “weed” as needed. 

    The speaker’s gifted and talented belovèd can correct her clumsiness. She names two of her poems “eglantine” and “ivy” and commands him to “take them,” as she used to take his gifts of flowers, and probably gifts of his own poems to her as well.

    Second Tercet:  In His Care

    Thy flowers, and keep them where they shall not pine
    Instruct thine eyes to keep their colors true,
    And tell thy soul their roots are left in mine.

    The speaker commands her belovèd to safeguard her pieces so “they shall not pine.” In his care, she will also not pine.  And the poem will “instruct [his] eyes” to the true feelings she bears for him.

    The speaker’s poems will henceforth remind him that she feels bound to him at the soul.  Soul qualities have always been more important to this speaker than physical and mental qualities.  

    The “colors true” of this speaker’s sonnets will continue to pour forth her love for her belovèd and “tell [his] soul their roots are left in [hers].”   Each sonnet will reinforce their love and celebrate the life they will make together.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43 “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Engraving from original Painting by Chappel, 1872. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43 “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”

    The sonnet “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”—number 43 in Sonnets from the Portuguese—remains the most famous and widely read sonnet of the sequence.  The speaker is offering a summary of all the ways she has come to love her soon to be husband.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 43 “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”

    Sonnet 43 “How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways” is the most widely anthologized sonnet from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sequence titled Sonnets from the Portuguese. It is likely the many high school or college graduates remember that line but may have remained unaware that it is only #43 from its accompanying sequence of 43 other sonnets.  

    The sonnet is a Petrarchan sonnet as are all of the other sonnets in the sequence.  In the octave, the speaker is musing about how much she loves her belovèd suitor, and she asks the question, “How do I love thee?” 

    Then the speaker proceeds to answer the question, so the reader becomes aware that the speaker is not literally addressing her belovèd, but she is addressing the thought or perhaps even an image of that belovèd.  In the sestet, the speaker counts three definite ways and one possible way that she will love him throughout eternity.

    Sonnet 43 “H0w do I love thee? Let me count the ways”

    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 everyday’s 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 childhood’s 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.

    Commentary on Sonnet 43 “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”  

    Sonnet 43 “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” remains the most famous and widely read sonnet of the sequence.

    First Quatrain:  An Emphatic Rhetorical Question

    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.

    The speaker asks an obvious rhetorical question that requires only her feeling to fill out; thus she continues, “Let me count the ways.” She loves him with all her soul, as that soul strives for an idealism that has to be left up to faith.  The soul searches in all directions through “depth and breadth and height” for this idealism, which this speaker calls “the ends of Being and ideal Grace.”

    Second Quatrain:  Love and All Levels

    I love thee to the level of everyday’s 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.

    The speaker has begun with the sublime, ethereal level of her love by invoking how she loves her belovèd on the spiritual level.  The speaker then brings herself quickly back to the mundane activities of daily life by saying that another way she loves him is through even the smallest daily act whether that act is performed during the daylight hours or during the night, “by sun and candle-light.”

    The speaker then asserts that her love for her belovèd is spontaneous and “freely” given; therefore, she loves him in the way humankind loves freedom and acts correctly in striving to secure and maintain that freedom. She then claims that her love is as pure as those who are humble when praised.  In the octave, the speaker has signified four ways she loves her belovèd: spiritually, materially, “freely,” and “purely.”

    First Tercet:   All Encompassing Love

    I love thee with the passion put to use
    In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

    The speaker loves him with the same ardor that used to grip her when she faced difficulties, but this “passion” is tempered by the fact that that love is also similar to the love that childhood provided her, an opposite kind of emotion from the one that caused her “old griefs.”  This love includes the polar opposites of fear and love, with love tempering the fear in a balanced and useful way.

    The speaker also loves her belovèd life mate with a kind of respect and admiration that she thought she had outgrown; this group of people could be a fairly large one, including friends, teachers, relatives, and even religious “saints,” the term she uses.  But the key word is that she “seemed” to lose this love, but with her belovèd suitor, that love is returned to her.

    Second Tercet:   Love unto Eternity

    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 next way she loves her belovèd she asserts in a breathless, almost ecstatic pronouncement: “— I love thee with the breath, / Smiles, tears, of all my life! —.”  Placed between dashes, these terms then signal an emphasis of expression.

    This assertion captures the excitement and underscores the passion in the speaker’s claim, while it prepares the reader or listener, for the last breathtaking claim that, “if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.”

    So in the sestet, the speaker again professes four ways in which she loves the belovèd: with a passion of meeting former challenges but tempered by a childlike faith, with a kind of love she thought she had lost, and with her whole being.  But most importantly for this speaker, she has faith that she will love this belovèd soul mate eternally.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 42 “‘My future will not copy fair my past’”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning – Global Love Museum

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 42 “‘My future will not copy fair my past’”

    Musing and reflecting over some old pieces of her writing, the speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 42 “‘My future will not copy fair my past’” compares her thoughts from the past to her present state of mind.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 42 “‘My future will not copy fair my past‘”

    In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 42 “‘My future will not copy fair my past’,” the speaker has been reading an earlier piece of writing that displays her state of mind back before she had the good fortune to meet her belovèd suitor.   She reveals how extremely hopeless she had been regarding her future. Her heavenly muse had warned her to always take care and seems to agree with her assessment.

    The speaker’s life trajectory, however, has since taken an happy turn. The speaker now has passed much time musing about her good fortune.  In the earlier 41 sonnets, she has often shown her contemplation trying to determine if she, in face, is deserving of the love that has come to her from such a brilliant man of accomplishment.  

    She has often been found musing and reflecting over her new situation. In sonnet 42, she has come up on some old pieces that she earlier had written.  Thus, she begins to compare and contrast her thoughts from yesteryear to her present state of mind.

    Sonnet 42 “‘My future will not copy fair my past‘”

    “My future will not copy fair my past“—
    I wrote that once; and thinking at my side
    My ministering life-angel justified
    The word by his appealing look upcast
    To the white throne of God, I turned at last,
    And there, instead, saw thee, not unallied
    To angels in thy soul! Then I, long tried
    By natural ills, received the comfort fast,
    While budding, at thy sight, my pilgrim’s staff
    Gave out green leaves with morning dews impearled.
    I seek no copy now of life’s first half:
    Leave here the pages with long musing curled,
    And write me new my future’s epigraph,
    New angel mine, unhoped for in the world!

    Commentary  on Sonnet 42 “‘My future will not copy fair my past‘”

    The speaker is musing and reflecting over some old pieces of writing; she is comparing her thoughts of the past to her present state of mind.

    First Quatrain:  Then and Now

    “My future will not copy fair my past“—
    I wrote that once; and thinking at my side
    My ministering life-angel justified
    The word by his appealing look upcast

    The speaker is musing over a copy of some notes or pieces of memoir that she had written sometime in her past long before she met her belovèd.  At the time she wrote this line, “My future will not copy fair my past,” she believed it was true because her muse which she calls her “ministering life-angel” approved the words by glancing upward. This glance seemed to be a signal that the thought came directly from God.

    Second Quatrain:  Looking to God

    To the white throne of God, I turned at last,
    And there, instead, saw thee, not unallied
    To angels in thy soul! Then I, long tried
    By natural ills, received the comfort fast,

    Later, the speaker looked directly to God, instead of through her muse/angel. She then saw her belovèd who was clearly bound to “angels in [his] soul.”  The speaker’s long journey from suffering and pain had finally led her to a veritable fountain of healing.

    The comforting balm of the speaker’s belovèd quickly revived her spirit, though it took her mind much contemplation and even agitation to understand and finally accept what she had been given by him.

    First Tercet:  Beginning to Live

    While budding, at thy sight, my pilgrim’s staff
    Gave out green leaves with morning dews impearled.
    I seek no copy now of life’s first half:

    During the journey, the speaker’s “pilgrim’s staff / Gave out green leaves with morning dews impearled.”  A youthful freshness revived the speaker’s thinking and inspired her so fully that she finally felt she was beginning to live.

    After at last realizing the beauty and majesty of this man’s feelings for her, the speaker now understands that the second half of her life will be very different from the first half, and she is very grateful for this fortunate change in her situation.  Because of her good fortune, the speaker “seek[s] no copy now of life’s first half.” The pain of the past has been erased, and the future portends brightness and happiness.

    Second Tercet:  The Courage to Hope

    Leave here the pages with long musing curled,
    And write me new my future’s epigraph,
    New angel mine, unhoped for in the world!

    Regarding the “pages with long musing,” the speaker wishes to allow them to yellow and age and remain unremarkable. She can “write [herself] new [her] future’s epigraph.” The speaker credits her belovèd whom she calls, “New angel mine,” with her transformation, as she admits that she had not even had the courage to hope for such a love “in the world.”

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 41 “I thank all who have loved me in their hearts”

    Image: Robert Browning visits Elizabeth Barrett at 50 Wimpole Street – painting by Celestial Images

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 41 “I thank all who have loved me in their hearts”

    The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 41 “I thank all who have loved me in their hearts” is expressing her gratitude for all those who have loved her-including, of course, a special debt to her belovèd suitor.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 41 “I thank all who have loved me in their hearts”

    The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 41 “I thank all who have loved me in their hearts” from Sonnets from the Portuguese focuses on gratitude for all who have loved her, while hoping that she will be able to express the extent of her gratitude to her belovèd.  Again, however, this speaker imparts her own short-comings.  She will never be able to act with total confidence in her ability, or so it seems at his point.

    While expressing a special debt to her belovèd suitor, the speaker explores her ability to experience gratitude for all the loves she has known in the past.  Yet, the speaker again places her trust in her belovèd’s ability to teach her true gratitude.  She continues to rely on her suitor to offer her direction in how to feel as well as how to behave.

    Sonnet 41 “I thank all who have loved me in their hearts”

    I thank all who have loved me in their hearts,
    With thanks and love from mine. Deep thanks to all
    Who paused a little near the prison-wall
    To hear my music in its louder parts
    Ere they went onward, each one to the mart’s
    Or temple’s occupation, beyond call.
    But thou, who, in my voice’s sink and fall
    When the sob took it, thy divinest Art’s
    Own instrument didst drop down at thy foot
    To hearken what I said between my tears, …
    Instruct me how to thank thee! Oh, to shoot
    My soul’s full meaning into future years,
    That they should lend it utterance, and salute
    Love that endures, from Life that disappears!

    Commentary on Sonnet 41 “I thank all who have loved me in their hearts”

    In sonnet 41 “I thank all who have loved me in their hearts,” Barrett Browning’s speaker reveals how deep is her gratitude for all those in her life who have loved her.  She has a special expression for her belovèd suitor.

    First Quatrain:  An Expression of Gratitude

    I thank all who have loved me in their hearts,
    With thanks and love from mine. Deep thanks to all
    Who paused a little near the prison-wall
    To hear my music in its louder parts

    The speaker begins with a simple statement to thank all the people she has had surrounding her who have actually loved her deeply. She then offers her own heart’s love in return. Continuing, she reveals her gratitude as “deep thanks” to all those who have paid some attention to her, especially when they listened to her complaints.

    Then, the speaker metaphorically characterizes her tantrumesque outbursts as “music” with “louder parts.”  The speaker nearly always demands decorum for herself that will not allow her to demonize herself even as she freely admits error and sorrowful dissatisfaction.  The pain and sorrow in the speaker’s life has moved her to expressions, as heretofore love never had done.

    Second Quatrain:   A Different Expression of Love

    Ere they went onward, each one to the mart’s
    Or temple’s occupation, beyond call.
    But thou, who, in my voice’s sink and fall
    When the sob took it, thy divinest Art’s

    All the others who had paid the speaker attention, however, were otherwise engaged; some had to scurry off to shopping, others to church, and they all remained far from her. She could not reach them, if she even had needed them.

    Of course, her belovèd fiancé not only is near and able to listening to her pleasant thoughts, but he also lovingly remains to listen to her sorrowful outbursts.   The speaker’s belovèd suitor would cease his own musing to listen to her, and she now feels ready to voice her complete attention to his love, patience and devotion.

    First Tercet:  His Art Divine 

    Own instrument didst drop down at thy foot
    To hearken what I said between my tears, …
    Instruct me how to thank thee! Oh, to shoot

    The speaker is grateful that her belovèd suitor would even interrupt his own work of “divinest Art’s” to attend to her needs and “hearken what I said between my tears.” But in offering such gratitude, the speaker implies that she actually does not know how to thank him for such devotion.

    Thus the speaker demands of him to teach her all he knows about the profound state of gratitude.  She feels she lacks the words to convey such gratitude; her need is so great, and her gratitude seems so paltry to fulfill the debt that she owes this man.

    Second Tercet:   Evidence of Thankfulness

    My soul’s full meaning into future years,
    That they should lend it utterance, and salute
    Love that endures, from Life that disappears!

    The speaker then projects a deep desire that her soul can reveal sometime in future just how grateful she is to her belovèd. She hopes that she can fill her “future years” with evidence of her thankfulness.

    The humble speaker prays that her very being will be able to “salute / Love that endures, from Life that disappears!”  Even though the living are in a state of gradual dying, the speaker prays that the love which she has received will somehow be returned along with the sincere gratitude she now feels.

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

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – NPG, London

    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.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 39 “Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Getty Images –

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 39 “Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace”

    In sonnet 39 “Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace,” the speaker is crediting her belovèd with being able to see her true soul through all of the despair that the years have heaped upon her. 

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 39 “Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace”

    In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 39 from Sonnets from the Portuguese, the speaker endeavors to leave her former diminished stature behind now that she is unconditionally loved by a wonderful man.  

    The speaker is heaping all the credit upon her belovèd fiancé for her acquiring the ability to perceive her true nature despite all of the sorrow that years of pining away have left in her life.

    Sonnet 39 “Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace”

    Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace
    To look through and behind this mask of me
    (Against which years have beat thus blanchingly
    With their rains), and behold my soul’s true face,
    The dim and weary witness of life’s race,—
    Because thou hast the faith and love to see,
    Through that same soul’s distracting lethargy,
    The patient angel waiting for a place
    In the new Heavens,—because nor sin nor woe,Nor God’s infliction, nor death’s neighborhood, Nor all which others viewing, turn to go,
    Nor all which makes me tired of all, self-viewed,—
    Nothing repels thee, … Dearest, teach me so
    To pour out gratitude, as thou dost, good!

    Commentary on Sonnet 39 “Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace”

    The speakers revealing the importance of the influence of her belovèd for her newly acquired, delicious ability to see her true soul through all of the despair that the years have foisted upon her.

    First Quatrain:  Powers of Vision

    Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace
    To look through and behind this mask of me
    (Against which years have beat thus blanchingly
    With their rains), and behold my soul’s true face,

    Addressing her belovèd, the speaker credits him with the ability to see through the veil she has drooped around herself for protection.  Throughout her life, the years of feeling sad and sorrowful have taken a tremendous toll on her physical beauty and mental attitude.

    However, her new love is able to pierce through those superficialities to perceive the value of her soul.  The speaker implies that she has spent many hours crying; therefore, she metaphorically transforms the tears and years into “rains” that have “beat thus blanchingly.”

    Second Quatrain:  A Forlorn Life

    The dim and weary witness of life’s race,—
    Because thou hast the faith and love to see,
    Through that same soul’s distracting lethargy,
    The patient angel waiting for a place

    The speaker avers that her forlorn life has been witnessed by her soul, which has come to identify itself as “dim and weary.”   The melancholy speaker then reports and concludes that her new love has both the “faith and love” that enable him to intuit the true nature or her soul.  

    Though the speaker’s soul has been abused in the senses as she experienced so much pain, doubt, and anguish and thus has grown dull with “distracting lethargy,” it remained a “patient angel,” biding its time for better things to come.

    First Tercet:  A New Blossoming

    In the new Heavens,—because nor sin nor woe,Nor God’s infliction, nor death’s neighborhood, Nor all which others viewing, turn to go,
    Nor all which makes me tired of all, self-viewed,—
    Nothing repels thee, … Dearest, teach me so
    To pour out gratitude, as thou dost, good!

    As the speaker’s heavy-burdened soul waited “for a place / / In the new Heavens,” she now realizes the extent to which she has become aware of a new blossoming through the love of her suitor.  The speaker then begins a catalogue of negativity that has not been able to impede her belovèd from sensing the face of her real soul. 

    That list includes “nor sin nor woe.”   Furthermore, “God’s infliction” and “death’s neighborhood” could not hide her soul from him. And even other impediments of her personality that repelled others could not make her belovèd abandon her.

    Second Tercet:  A Catalogue of Maladies

    Nor all which makes me tired of all, self-viewed,—
    Nothing repels thee, … Dearest, teach me so
    To pour out gratitude, as thou dost, good!

    Continuing the catalogue of maladies, the speaker includes “all which makes me tired of all, self-viewed.” When she judged herself most harshly, she had found so many imperfections that the accumulation of them weakened her will to live a productive life.    Yet even these worst qualities of character have not been able to route the speaker’s new love from her, and her final remark shows the nature of her true soul. 

    The recovering melancholic speaker now commands her belovèd to offer her instruction in remaining and showing thankfulness. The speaker’s miserable life has made her feel that she hitherto had nothing for which to be thankful, and now she needs to learn how to show gratitude, instead of masking it behind a  veil of tears.

    The speaker finally asserts that her belovèd has the ability to pour out “good” with such a spontaneous ease that she wants to learn to do so as well.   If her belovèd suitor is so generous with being “good,” then the speaker wants to become generous in being thankful.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 38 “First time he kissed me, he but only kissed”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning – Global Love Museum

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 38 “First time he kissed me, he but only kissed”

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 38 “First time he kissed me, he but only kissed” dramatizes the speaker’s elated feelings after the first three kisses shared with her belovèd: the first was on her hand with which she writes, the second was on her forehead, and third on her lips.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 38 “First time he kissed me, he but only kissed”

    In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 38 “First time he kissed me, he but only kissed, ” the speaker demonstrates that the love relationship with her suitor has continued to grow stronger even as she has continued to have serious doubts about it.

    Readers likely have begun to wonder if this speaker will ever surrender to this desire and accept the fact that her suitor is actually offering her the love she so desperately wants to accept.  In this sonnet, the speaker hints that she is ready to surrender to the love that she doubted even as it has grown stronger.

    Sonnet 38 “First time he kissed me, he but only kissed”

    First time he kissed me, he but only kissed
    The fingers of this hand wherewith I write;
    And ever since, it grew more clean and white,
    Slow to world-greetings, quick with its “Oh, list,”
    When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst
    I could not wear here, plainer to my sight,
    Than that first kiss. The second passed in height
    The first, and sought the forehead, and half missed,
    Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed!
    That was the chrism of love, which love’s own crown, With sanctifying sweetness, did precede.
    The third upon my lips was folded down
    In perfect, purple state; since when, indeed,
    I have been proud and said, “My love, my own.”

    Commentary on Sonnet 38 “First time he kissed me, he but only kissed”

    Even as their love relationship grows stronger, there still remains a tinge of doubt that the speaker will ever completely surrender to that love.But it remains clear that she is striving sincerely to accept that the relationship is genuine and will endure.

    First Quatrain:  Kissing the Hand

    First time he kissed me, he but only kissed
    The fingers of this hand wherewith I write;
    And ever since, it grew more clean and white,
    Slow to world-greetings, quick with its “Oh, list,”

    The speaker’s belovèd first kissed her on her writing hand. After this first kiss, she has noticed a remarkable transition of that hand: it appears cleaner and lighter.   That hand has grown “slow to world-greetings,” but “quick” to caution her to listen to the angels when they speak.

    In a stroke of technical brilliance, the speaker/poet again uses the device of breaking the line between “Oh, list,” and “When angels speak,” over the two quatrains.   This improvised special emphasis gives the same sense as an extended sigh with the facial expression of one seeing some magical being.

    Second Quatrain:  The Honored Kiss

    When the angels speak. A ring of amethyst
    I could not wear here, plainer to my sight,
    Than that first kiss. The second passed in height
    The first, and sought the forehead, and half missed,

    The speaker’s hand could not be more real and have any better decoration, such as “a ring of amethyst,” than it does now that her belovèd has honored it with his kiss.  The enchanted speaker then scurries on to report about the second kiss, which sounds rather comical: the second kiss was aimed at her forehead, but “half-missed” and lands half in her hair and half on the flesh.

    First Tercet:  Ecstatic Joy

    Half falling on the hair. O beyond meed!
    That was the chrism of love, which love’s own crown, With sanctifying sweetness, did precede.

    Despite the comical half-hair/half-forehead miss, the speaker is carried away in an ecstatic joy, “O beyond meed!”   The clever speaker puns on the word “meed” to include the meaning of “reward” as well as the famously intoxicating beverage mead.   The speaker has become drunk with the delight of this new level of intimacy.

    This kiss is “the chrism of love”; she is baptized in the love of her belovèd suitor. This kiss is also “love’s own crown”; again, similar to the “meed” pun, the speaker exploits the double meaning of the term “crown,” as the headdress of a king or simply the crown of the head.  The “sanctifying sweetness” of this kiss has preceded and grown out of the love that now is so sweet and electrifying.

    Second Tercet:   A Royal Kiss

    The third upon my lips was folded down
    In perfect, purple state; since when, indeed,
    I have been proud and said, “My love, my own.”

    Finally, the third kiss “folded down” “upon [her] lips.” And it was perfect. It possessed her in a “purple state.”   This royal kiss elevated her mind to pure royalty. She thus returns again to referring to her belovèd in royal terms as she had done in earlier sonnets.

    So since that series of kisses, especially that third royal embrace, the speaker has “been proud and said, ‘My love, my own.’”   This reluctant speaker is finally accepting her belovèd as the love of her life and allows herself the luxury of placing her newly awakened faith in his love.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 37 “Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Baylor University

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 37 “Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make”

    In sonnet 37 “Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make,” the speaker dramatically begs forgiveness for not immediately recognizing the true worth and commitment of her belovèd. 

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 37 “Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make”

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 37 “Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make,” creates an appealing tension; while the speaker again denigrates herself, she is, nevertheless, asking her belovèd for forgiveness. She had simply behaved as would an innocent pagan who could offer only the humblest gift to his protector.

    Sonnet 37 “Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make”

    Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make,
    Of all that strong divineness which I know
    For thine and thee, an image only so
    Formed of the sand, and fit to shift and break.
    It is that distant years which did not take
    Thy sovranty, recoiling with a blow,
    Have forced my swimming brain to undergo
    Their doubt and dread, and blindly to forsake
    Thy purity of likeness and distort
    Thy worthiest love to a worthless counterfeit:
    As if a shipwrecked Pagan, safe in port,
    His guardian sea-god to commemorate,
    Should set a sculptured porpoise, gills a-snort
    And vibrant tail, within the temple gate.

    Commentary on Sonnet 37 “Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make”

    The speaker continues to denigrate herself through an abundance of humility, still finding it difficult to accept her good fortune at attracting such an illustrious love interest.

    First Quatrain:  An Emotional Appeal

    Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make,
    Of all that strong divineness which I know
    For thine and thee, an image only so
    Formed of the sand, and fit to shift and break. 

    The speaker creates an emotional appeal to her belovèd, asking pardon for her soul and simultaneously again demonstrating the level of her perceived poverty of mind and spirit. 

    She implies that despite the “strong divineness,” which she now recognizes the belovèd to possess, as being “for thine and thee,” she was able to construct in her imagination only a much less exalted “image only so formed of the sand.”

    Such a hastily constructed image made of mere sand was unable to endure the test of time and therefore could not do other than “shift and break.” Of course, she does not intend her belovèd to gather from this dramatic description that his image has actually broken; she is merely once again offering proof of what her poor soul was able to grasp in its sullied state prior to their meeting.

    Second Quatrain: Distortion through Suffering

    It is that distant years which did not take
    Thy sovranty, recoiling with a blow,
    Have forced my swimming brain to undergo
    Their doubt and dread, and blindly to forsake 

    Again, the speaker recounts that having suffered for so many years has distorted her ability to recognize the true and the beautiful. She has needed constant tutoring in order to bring her perceptions in line with reality.  She has many times averred that she believes whole- heartedly that her belovèd possesses a genuine heart, and she believes his love for her is nothing but pure gold.

    Yet again, she must protect her heart, in case her early perceptions are false. She blames her feeble thought process on her “swimming brain.” Having been disoriented by the possibility of finding such a pure love, she could not keep that brain from entertaining thoughts of “doubt and dread.”

    First Tercet:  The Wages of Blindness

    Thy purity of likeness and distort
    Thy worthiest love to a worthless counterfeit:
    As if a shipwrecked Pagan, safe in port, 

    Thus, she now realizes that she was quite blind in “forsak[ing] / / Thy purity.” She, therefore, must ask “pardon” from having thought of his love as possibly nothing more than “a worthless counterfeit.”  The speaker separates her thought over the second quatrain and first tercet. Thus, after she remarks, “blindly to forsake,” she breaks the line to complete it in the second tercet. 

    This construction gives the object of “to forsake” more emphasis after inserting the pause created by the break.  She then begins the construction of a simileic metaphor of a “shipwrecked Pagan,” and again breaks the image over the two tercets for the same emphasis.

    Second Tercet:  Schooling the Poor Pagan

    His guardian sea-god to commemorate,
    Should set a sculptured porpoise, gills a-snort
    And vibrant tail, within the temple gate.

    This poor Pagan, who is “safe in port,” constructs “a sculptured porpoise, gills a-snort / And vibrant tail,” to honor the “sea-god” who has protected him. While worthy in a very humble way, such a gift would not be appropriate to place “within the temple-gate.”   But the poor Pagan would not be able to know better, until he had been schooled in the finer arts in life.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 36 “When we met first and loved, I did not build”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning – 1852. Portraits painted by Thomas Buchanan Read

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 36 “When we met first and loved, I did not build”

    In sonnet 36 “When we met first and loved,” the speaker reveals her inability to fully accept the love relationship that is growing with her belovèd suitor.  She is constantly trying to prevent her heart from being broken, in case the relationship fails to reach it full potential.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 36 “When we met first and loved, I did not build”

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 36 “When we met first and loved, I did not build”  from Sonnets from the Portuguese reveals the speaker’s apprehension that the first moments of a new love might prove to be illusive; thus, she refuses to believe unwaveringly in the possibility that love had arrived.

    This speaker always remains aware that she must protect her heart from disaster.  And at this point in their relationship, she knows that she could suffer a terrible broken heart if the relationship fails to flourish.

    Sonnet 36 “When we met first and loved, I did not build”

    When we met first and loved, I did not build
    Upon the event with marble. Could it mean
    To last, a love set pendulous between
    Sorrow and sorrow? Nay, I rather thrilled,
    Distrusting every light that seemed to gild
    The onward path, and feared to overlean
    A finger even. And, though I have grown serene
    And strong since then, I think that God has willed
    A still renewable fear … O love, O troth …
    Lest these enclaspèd hands should never hold,
    This mutual kiss drop down between us both
    As an unowned thing, once the lips being cold.
    And Love, be false! if he, to keep one oath,
    Must lose one joy, by his life’s star foretold.

    Commentary on Sonnet 36 “When we met first and loved, I did not build”

    The speaker again is demonstrating her inability to fully accept the love relationship that is growing with her belovèd suitor.  The speaker must protect her poor heart, which could so easily be shattered if the love relationship should end.

    First Quatrain:  Love between Sorrow

    When we met first and loved, I did not build
    Upon the event with marble. Could it mean
    To last, a love set pendulous between
    Sorrow and sorrow? Nay, I rather thrilled,

    The speaker says that when she and her belovèd first met and love began to flower, she did not readily accept that the feelings were genuine; she refused to imagine that such a relationship could become solid.  She must continue to guard her heart by holding in abeyance only the possibility of a lasting love relationship.

    She questions whether love could endure for her because of the many sorrows she has experienced.  She, instead, continued to think of only the potential of love, existing between one sorrow after the next sorrow.  She felt more confident that sorrow would remain in the offing than that love would come to rescue her out of her melancholy.

    The reader is by now quite familiar with the sadness, pain, and grief this speaker has suffered in her life and that she continues to suffer these maladies.   For this melancholy speaker to accept the balm of love remains very difficult. Her doubts and fears continue to remain more real to her than these new, most cherished feelings of love and affection.

    Second Quatrain:   Continuing Fear

    Distrusting every light that seemed to gild
    The onward path, and feared to overlean
    A finger even. And, though I have grown serene
    And strong since then, I think that God has willed

    Answering her own question in the negative, the speaker asserts that she preferred to remain skeptical of the hints that seemed to suggest a progression toward the loving relationship.   

    The speaker’s fears continue to prompt her  to hold back her heart because she continued to remains afraid that if she gave way at even a “finger[’s]” length, she would regret the loss so much that she would suffer even more than she already had done.

    Quite uncharacteristically, the speaker admits that since that early time at the very beginning of this love relationship, she has, indeed, “grown serene / And strong.”   Such an admission is difficult for the  personality of this troubled speaker, but she does remain aware that she must somehow come to terms with her evolving growth.

    First Tercet:   Skepticism for Protection

    A still renewable fear … O love, O troth …
    Lest these enclaspèd hands should never hold,
    This mutual kiss drop down between us both

    Still, even though this wary speaker is cognizant of her growth in terms of serenity and strength, she believes that God has instilled in her the ability to remain somewhat skeptical in order to protect herself from certain torture at having been wrong about the relationship.

    This speaker knows that if, “these enclaspèd hands should never hold,” she would be devastated if she had not protected her heart by retaining those doubts.   If the “mutual kiss” should “drop between us both,” this ever-thinking speaker is sure her life would be filled with even more grief and sorrow.

    Second Tercet:  Wrenching Feeling

    As an unowned thing, once the lips being cold.
    And Love, be false! if he, to keep one oath,
    Must lose one joy, by his life’s star foretold.

    The speaker then spreads across the border of the tercets the wrenching feeling that her words are causing her.   This melancholy speaker feels that she must give utterance to these thoughts, but she knows that they will cause pain, even to her belovèd. But if, “Love, be false,” then she simply must acknowledge that possibility for both their sakes.

    The speaker anticipates the likelihood that she might have to “lose one joy” which may already be written in her stars, and not knowing which joy that might be, she must remain watchful that it might be the very love she is striving so mightily to protect.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 35 “If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Library of Congress

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 35 “If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange”

    In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 35 “If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange,” the poet’s speaker questions her belovèd to receive assurance of his love as a shelter from her anxiety as she prepares to leave her childhood home. 

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 35 “If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange”

    The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 35 “If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange”muses upon how she may react to leaving her childhood environment.    No doubt the speaker is elated at the prospect of beginning a life with the man she adores so adamantly, but as the reader has watched this speaker, it has become clear that any change in her station will cause abundant anxiety as she navigates the course of new her life.

    Sonnet 35 “If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange”

    If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
    And be all to me? Shall I never miss
    Home-talk and blessing and the common kiss
    That comes to each in turn, nor count it strange,
    When I look up, to drop on a new range
    Of walls and floors, another home than this?
    Nay, wilt thou fill that place by me which is
    Filled by dead eyes too tender to know change?
    That’s hardest. If to conquer love, has tried,
    To conquer grief, tries more, as all things prove;
    For grief indeed is love and grief beside.
    Alas, I have grieved so I am hard to love.
    Yet love me—wilt thou? Open thine heart wide,
    And fold within the wet wings of thy dove.

    Commentary on Sonnet 35 “If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange”

    The speaker is asking questions of her belovèd; she needs assurance of his love as a shelter from her anxiety as she prepares to move from her childhood home.

    First Quatrain:  With an Eye Toward the Future

    If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
    And be all to me? Shall I never miss
    Home-talk and blessing and the common kiss
    That comes to each in turn, nor count it strange,

    The speaker begins her inquiry as she seeks to ascertain whether her belovèd plans to abandon his own life context in order to live with her; she is, of course “leav[ing] all for [him].”  

    The questioning speaker carries on with a further inquiry, wondering but also correctly believing that she will long for familiar events that currently and have always filled her life.  She will miss such things as, “blessing,” “home-talk,” and “the common kiss.”

    The speaker then poses her question rather diplomatically in order to suggest that while she hopes she will not hanker back after her old home-life, she continues to harbor doubts about her ability to cut those ties so quickly and completely.   She then admits that she “count[s] it strange,” thinking that she would feel otherwise as she leaves her previous residence.

    Second Quatrain:   To Remain Steady

    When I look up, to drop on a new range
    Of walls and floors, another home than this?
    Nay, wilt thou fill that place by me which is
    Filled by dead eyes too tender to know change?

    The speaker then renders clarity for her missing the “walls and floors” that she has for so long remained accustomed to observing. For this speaker, the ordinary day to day observations and even noises around the home have become very significant in helping her remain truly steady in her view of reality.

    This speaker knows that she is accustomed to taking flights on mental wings that may sail her too far off from the here and now of daily life.  Then she poses a very vital question, wondering if her belovèd will be able keep her from continuing to grieve over past losses.  

    Having her belovèd beside her, though, leads the speaker to believe that her environmental change will affect her much less traumatically than she might imagine.   Although the speaker feels that her own eyes “are too tender to know change,” she can navigate the notion that with her suitor’s assistance, she will likely find adjusting to the new environment possible.

    First Tercet:  A Philosophical Leaning

    That’s hardest. If to conquer love, has tried,
    To conquer grief, tries more, as all things prove;
    For grief indeed is love and grief beside.

    In the first tercet, the speaker examines some philosophical leaning that has motivated her earlier questions.  Subduing grief has been the speaker’s most difficult task.  She finds that she must also conquer love, and that is also difficult.  

    However, most difficult has been her struggle with pain, sorrow, and that unending grief.  She has discovered that “grief indeed is love and grief beside.”  If she were to lose her belovèd or feel abandoned, her grief would compound beyond endurance.

    This speaker has repeatedly agonized over every aspect of her life, sad fact after sad event.  Her self-doubt has prevented her from immediate acceptance of the love of one she considers far above her station.  

    This speaker’s low self-esteem has caused much musing and wringing of hands.  But she always remains dignified in her questions for understanding, and those questions to her belovèd demonstrate a strong mind despite its many doubts.

    Second Tercet: Bold Speech

    Alas, I have grieved so I am hard to love.
    Yet love me—wilt thou? Open thine heart wide,
    And fold within the wet wings of thy dove.

    The speaker readily confesses that her long-time knowledge of sorrow has rendered her “hard to love.” Thus, she then demands that her lover, “Yet love me,” and then once again retracts the command, converting it to a mild question, “wilt thou?” 

    She has long lamented that she has grieved greatly in her lifetime; at times, she seems nearly tipsy with her idiosyncratic ways, as she proposes again a command to her belovèd to continue to hold her in his heart.  She colorfully refers to her soul as a dove with “wet wings” likely because of her having shed so many tears.

    The speaker finds any kind of bold speech beyond her capabilities, yet at the same time, she has convinced herself that she must unite with her deep soul, which she refers to as “dove.”  She must find her best self in order to continue in her relationship with her wonderful, magnificent belovèd.

    Image:  Robert Browning visits Elizabeth Barrett at 50 Wimpole Street – painting by Celestial Images