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Category: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 24 “Let the world’s sharpness, like a clasping knife”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Baylor University

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 24 “Let the world’s sharpness, like a clasping knife”

    The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 24 “Let the world’s sharpness, like a clasping knife” compares the negative attitudes of others to a “clasping knife” that she will simply close up to rid her love of danger and damage.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 24 “Let the world’s sharpness, like a clasping knife”

    In sonnet 24 from Sonnets from the Portuguese, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s strategy resembles the metaphysical poet’s use of the strange conceit as she compares the world’s harshness to a clasping knife. 

    John Donne often dramatized with this device in his poems of seduction.  He employed the ghost metaphor in “The Apparition,” and he used blood in the poem, “The Flea.”  Both abundantly odd choices for such a poem that seeks to woo.

    Sonnet 24 “Let the world’s sharpness, like a clasping knife”

    Let the world’s sharpness, like a clasping knife,
    Shut in upon itself and do no harm
    In this close hand of Love, now soft and warm,
    And let us hear no sound of human strife
    After the click of the shutting. Life to life—
    I lean upon thee, Dear, without alarm,
    And feel as safe as guarded by a charm
    Against the stab of worldlings, who if rife
    Are weak to injure. Very whitely still
    The lilies of our lives may reassure
    Their blossoms from their roots, accessible
    Alone to heavenly dews that drop not fewer,
    Growing straight, out of man’s reach, on the hill.
    God only, who made us rich, can make us poor.

    Commentary on Sonnet 24 “Let the world’s sharpness, like a clasping knife”

    Employing an odd conceit often used by the Metaphysical Poets, the speaker in sonnet 24 “Let the world’s sharpness, like a clasping knife” is comparing the oppositional attitudes of others to a “clasping knife” that she will simply close up to protect her love from destructive ideas.

    First Quatrain:  The World’s Intrusion

    Let the world’s sharpness, like a clasping knife,
    Shut in upon itself and do no harm
    In this close hand of Love, now soft and warm,
    And let us hear no sound of human strife

    The speaker engages the conceit of a “clasping knife” to refer to the “world’s sharpness” that would intrude upon the love between herself and her belovèd.   Like the Metaphysical Poets who employed such devices, Barrett Browning follows their lead at times, engaging strange metaphors and similes to express her comparisons.   

    But this speaker allows that the world should just close itself up like that “clasping knife” so that its threat will not interfere with the love she feels for her belovèd. The speaker begs that no “harm” come to “this close hand of Love.” After the knife closes to shut away the sharpness, then there is no danger. She asks for “soft and warm,” without the “sound of human strife.”

    Second Quatrain:  Putting Away Sharpness and Danger

    After the click of the shutting. Life to life—
    I lean upon thee, Dear, without alarm,
    And feel as safe as guarded by a charm
    Against the stab of worldlings, who if rife

    The speaker continues the knife conceit into the second quatrain of the sonnet. After the sharpness and danger are put away, she and her belovèd will exist “without alarm,” and they will be safe.   They will be protected from all adversity and criticism of them by the warmth of feelings that they experience for each other, even though the speaker finds obstacles everywhere. 

    After making progress in overcoming her own inner doubts, she now has to battle the unsympathetic barbs of others.   But by likening the ridicule to a “clasping knife,” the speaker dramatizes her method for overcoming the negativities of other people; she will merely close them off from her consciousness.

    First Tercet:  Too Weak to Cause Pain

    Are weak to injure. Very whitely still
    The lilies of our lives may reassure
    Their blossoms from their roots, accessible

    The knife conceit has worked well because she is able to admit that the stabs of those “worldlings” are many, and they cause pain.  But despite the pain and their number being large, their knife thrusts have remained slight, too weak to disturb the boundaries that bind the lovers.

    She then takes up another conceit which likens the lovers’ relationship to “the lilies of our lives” that “reassure / Their blossoms from their roots.”  The roots of the flower are hidden, but they are strong and sustain the beauty of the blooms. The speaker is dramatizing the love between herself and her belovèd, averring that they possess a strong, hidden core like the flowers.

    Second Tercet:  Growing out of the Reach of Humankind

    Alone to heavenly dews that drop not fewer,
    Growing straight, out of man’s reach, on the hill.
    God only, who made us rich, can make us poor.

    And the source of their love is their deep, inner reservoir of all things determined by their spiritual ties, provided them by their profound faith.  Their love is not something to be placed on a stage and applauded; it is deep and abiding.  Only God can influence the direction of their love and their life together.

    The speaker is echoing the marriage vows as she has done before in sonnet 22 “When our two souls stand up erect and strong.” Those vows affirm: “what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6).

    Full Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Baylor University

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 23 “Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead”

    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 23 “Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead”

    The speaker is responding to a sweet love letter from her dear belovèd fiancé.  She concludes that instead of desiring the deliverance by death of her woes, she can remain an earth resident because of the love that has healed her melancholy.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 23 “Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead”

    In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 23 “Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead” from Sonnets from the Portuguese, the speaker dramatizes the ever-growing confidence and profound love the speaker is enjoying with her belovèd.  

    She is responding to a love letter from her lover with her usual dazzling, amazement that he can love her so genuinely.  The speaker is finally accepting the still a bit unbelievable fact that she is loved very deeply by this incredible man, whom she still holds in such high esteem.

    Sonnet 23 “Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead”

    Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead,
    Wouldst thou miss any life in losing mine?
    And would the sun for thee more coldly shine
    Because of grave-damps falling round my head?
    I marvelled, my Beloved, when I read
    Thy thought so in the letter. I am thine—
    But . . . so much to thee? Can I pour thy wine
    While my hands tremble ? Then my soul, instead
    Of dreams of death, resumes life’s lower range.
    Then, love me, Love! look on me—breathe on me!
    As brighter ladies do not count it strange,
    For love, to give up acres and degree,
    I yield the grave for thy sake, and exchange
    My near sweet view of Heaven, for earth with thee!

    Commentary on Sonnet 23:  “Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead”

    The speaker inElizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 23 “Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead” is dramatizing her reaction to n affectionate love letter from her dear belovèd suitor.

    First Quatrain:   Framing a Question

    Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead,
    Wouldst thou miss any life in losing mine?
    And would the sun for thee more coldly shine
    Because of grave-damps falling round my head?

    Beginning with a simple, yet somewhat vague at first, question, the speaker asks if something is really true. Next, she supplies the idea that prompts her inquiry, but then appends two additional questions. She is asking her lover if it is really true that he would miss her if she died.

    But the speaker dramatizes this simple notion by asking her questions in such a vivid manner. She wonders if for her belovèd, it would seem that the sun’s warmth had cooled.  Because only cold dampness would be “falling round [her] head” as she lay in the grave, she senses that coldness would also become her lover’s sensibilities. 

    The speaker may be echoing her lover’s words, but she enhances them by placing them in question form.  The eerie image of “grave-damps falling” around her head evokes the mighty contrast between her imagined situation in a coffin and her moving about live upon the earth.

    Second Quatrain:   Filled with Wonder

    I marvelled, my Beloved, when I read
    Thy thought so in the letter. I am thine—
    But . . . so much to thee? Can I pour thy wine
    While my hands tremble ? Then my soul, instead

    Directly addressing her belovèd, the speaker reveals that she was filled with wonder as she was reading the words communicating those very thoughts in a letter that she had received from him.  Thus, the speaker then is creating her sonnet in response to her lover’s effusions in the love-letter, which reveals that the two are at the height of their passion.  

    The speaker has finally accepted that she is loved very deeply by this man, but she still can be overcome with emotion when he speaks to her from his heart. She repeats those long-wished-for, delicious words, “I am thine.” 

    However, the speaker then finds herself in awe that she could mean so much to this accomplished suitor. She lets him know that his admission has touched her so deeply that she is trembling, and thus she queries, wondering if she could even pour wine into a glass as her hands trembled so violently.

    Again, the speaker dramatizes her avowal by placing it in a question.  This emphasis assumes to communicate her still amazement at her good fortune in experiencing love with this wonderful mate.

    First Tercet:  Unique Love

    Of dreams of death, resumes life’s lower range.
    Then, love me, Love! look on me—breathe on me!
    As brighter ladies do not count it strange,

    The speaker, accepting that the answers to her questions are positive, reports that because of this unique love, she is touched to the soul and wants more than ever to live.   Even though the speaker has dreamed of death to quell her misery, she now insists she will dream of life because now, her soul can move through life in a quieter atmosphere, where contentment can hold sway in her moods.

    The speaker then effuses, “Then, love, Love! Look on me—breathe on me!” Her passion is rousing her language; she wants to make him know how strongly her ardor has become.

    Second Tercet:  Earthbound for the Sake of Love

    For love, to give up acres and degree,
    I yield the grave for thy sake, and exchange
    My near sweet view of Heaven, for earth with thee!

    The speaker then asserts that as those women, who are “brighter” than she is, are willing to give up possessions and station for love, she is willing to give up her desire for death to deliver her from her misery.  She has held view that residing her her concept of heaven would be preferable to the life she has been assigned on earth.

    However, now through the blessings of her love relationship with her suitor, she now wishes to give up those heavenly blessings for which she had yearned, and remain earthbound.  She is willing to remain earthbound and keep her physical encasement for his sake.

    Introduction to the Sonnet Sequence

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

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Getty Images

    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.

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

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – NPG, London

    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.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 20 “Beloved, my Beloved, when I think”

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

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 20 “Beloved, my Beloved, when I think”

    Sonnet 20 “Beloved, my Beloved, when I think” from Sonnets from the Portuguese finds the speaker in a pensive mood, dramatizing her awe at the difference a year has made in her life.

    Introduction with Text of Sonnet 20 “Beloved, my Beloved, when I think”

    The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 20 “Beloved, my Beloved, when I think” from Sonnets from the Portuguese remembers that just year ago she would not have been able to imagine that a love relationship with someone so important as her belovèd would break the chains of sorrow with which she has been bound for many years.

    This sonnet finds the speaker in a pensive mood, dramatizing her awe at the difference a year has made in her life.  The speaker is gaining confidence in her ability to attract and return the kind of love that she has yearned for but heretofore considered herself unworthy of possessing. 

    Sonnet 20 “Beloved, my Beloved, when I think”

    Beloved, my Beloved, when I think
    That thou wast in the world a year ago,
    What time I sate alone here in the snow
    And saw no footprint, heard the silence sink
    No moment at thy voice … but, link by link,
    Went counting all my chains, as if that so
    They never could fall off at any blow
    Struck by thy possible hand … why, thus I drink
    Of life’s great cup of wonder! Wonderful,
    Never to feel thee thrill the day or night
    With personal act or speech,—nor ever cull
    Some prescience of thee with the blossoms white
    Thou sawest growing! Atheists are as dull,
    Who cannot guess God’s presence out of sight.

    Commentary on Sonnet 20 “Beloved, my Beloved, when I think”

    Sonnet 20 “Beloved, my Beloved, when I think” finds the speaker in a pensive mood, dramatizing her awe at the difference a year has made in her life.

    First Quatrain:  The Difference a Year Makes

    Beloved, my Beloved, when I think
    That thou wast in the world a year ago,
    What time I sate alone here in the snow
    And saw no footprint, heard the silence sink 

    The speaker is reminiscing about her feelings “a year ago” before she had met her belovèd. She sat watching the snow that remained without his “footprint.” The silence surrounding her lingered without her hearing his voice. The speaker is structuring her remarks in when/then clauses; she will be saying, “when” this was true, “then” something else was true.

    In the first quatrain, she is thus beginning her clause with “when I think” and what she is thinking about is the time before her belovèd and she had met. She continues the “when” clause until the last line of the second quatrain.

    Second Quatrain:  Never to be Broken Chains

    No moment at thy voice … but, link by link,
    Went counting all my chains, as if that so
    They never could fall off at any blow
    Struck by thy possible hand … why, thus I drink 

    Continuing to recount what she did and how she felt before her ne love came into her life, she reminds her audience that she was bound by “all my chains” which she “went counting” and believing would never be broken.  The speaker makes it clear that her belovèd has, in fact, been responsible for breaking those chains of pain and sorrow that kept her bound and weeping.

    The speaker then moves into the “then” construction, averring that the arrival of her belovèd is, indeed, the reason that she can now look on the world as a place “of wonder.”  At this point, she is simply experiencing the awe of wonder that she should be so fortunate to have her belovèd strike those metaphorical blows against the chains of sorrow that kept her in misery.

    First Tercet:  Near Incredulous

    Of life’s great cup of wonder! Wonderful,
    Never to feel thee thrill the day or night
    With personal act or speech,—nor ever cull 

    The speaker then expounds on what she had not been able to foretell as she remained unable to experience the joy and thrill of living that her belovèd has now afforded her through his acts of kindness and his verbal expressions of affection.  The speaker is nearly incredulous that she could have remained without the love that has become so important to her.

    Second Tercet:  Dull as Atheists

    Some prescience of thee with the blossoms white
    Thou sawest growing! Atheists are as dull,
    Who cannot guess God’s presence out of sight.

    The speaker adds another part of her astonishing “wonder”: that she was not able to sense that such a being might actually be living and amenable to having a relationship with her.  She feels that she should have had some inkling of awareness that such might be the case.

    She sees now that she was “as dull” as “atheists,” those unimaginative souls, “who cannot guess God’s presence out of sight.”   The speaker’s belovèd is such a marvelous work of nature that she imbues him with a certain divine stature, and she considers herself somewhat “dull” for not being about to guess that such a one existed. 

    As atheists are unable to surmise of Supreme Intelligence guiding the ordered cosmos, she was incapable of imagining that one such as her belovèd would come along and free her from her self-induced coma of sadness.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 19 “The soul’s Rialto hath its merchandise”

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

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 19 “The soul’s Rialto hath its merchandise”

    The two lovers exchange locks of hair, and the speaker makes a ceremony of the exchange as she again emphasizes the royalty of her lover’s station and talent.

    Introduction with Text of Sonnet 19 “The soul’s Rialto hath its merchandise”

    In sonnet 18 “I never gave a lock of hair away” from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese, the speaker dramatically celebrates giving a lock of her hair to her belovèd.

    The little drama continues with sonnet 19 “The soul’s Rialto hath its merchandise,” as she receives a lock from him.  The two lovers exchange their locks of hair, and the speaker dramatizes a ceremony of the exchange, as she again celebrates the royalty of her lover’s station and talent.

    Sonnet 19 “The soul’s Rialto hath its merchandise”

    The soul’s Rialto hath its merchandise;
    I barter curl for curl upon that mart,
    And from my poet’s forehead to my heart
    Receive this lock which outweighs argosies,—
    As purply black, as erst to Pindar’s eyes
    The dim purpureal tresses gloomed athwart
    The nine white Muse-brows. For this counterpart,
    The bay-crown’s shade, Belovèd, I surmise,
    Still lingers on thy curl, it is so black!
    Thus, with a fillet of smooth-kissing breath,
    I tie the shadows safe from gliding back,
    And lay the gift where nothing hindereth;
    Here on my heart, as on thy brow, to lack
    No natural heat till mine grows cold in death.

    Commentary on Sonnet 19 “The soul’s Rialto hath its merchandise”

    The two lovers exchange locks of hair, and the speaker makes a ceremony of the exchange as she again emphasizes the royalty of her lover’s station and talent.

    First Quatrain:  Oration and Commemoration

    The soul’s Rialto hath its merchandise;
    I barter curl for curl upon that mart,
    And from my poet’s forehead to my heart
    Receive this lock which outweighs argosies,—

    As in sonnet 18 “I never gave a lock of hair away,” the speaker offers a bit of an oration, commemorating the exchange of locks of hair between the two lovers. She metaphorically compares the soul to a marketplace, the Rialto, an important commercial district in Venice.  The speaker employs a commercial metaphor because of the trading of items that the two lovers are engaging in.

    The speaker then reveals that she is accepting the lock of hair from the head of her beloved with all the enthusiasm that an individual might express if she were presented with large loads of valuable cargoes from vast commercial sailing ships.

    The speaker enhances the value of that lock of hair by stating that it weighs even more than “argosies.” It is even more valuable than all the cargo arriving in vast commercial vessels that travel the seas.

    Second Quatrain:  Purple Black

    As purply black, as erst to Pindar’s eyes
    The dim purpureal tresses gloomed athwart
    The nine white Muse-brows. For this counterpart,
    The bay-crown’s shade, Belovèd, I surmise,

    In the second quatrain, the speaker emphasizes the blackness of her lover’s lock. The “curl,” she claims, is so black that it is “purply black.”  Again, she employs the color of royalty to distinguish the high station of her talented, handsome, accomplished lover.

    The speaker alludes to the ancient Greek poet Pindar, who is considered the greatest of the nine most famous ancient Greek poets, whom she references as “the nine white Muse-brows.”  The speaker’s lover’s lock is as significant because he is as important to the poetry world as those Greek poets are.

    First Tercet:  Pindar Allusion

    Still lingers on thy curl, it is so black!
    Thus, with a fillet of smooth-kissing breath,
    I tie the shadows safe from gliding back,

    The speaker voices her assumption that “the bay-crown’s shade, Beloved / / Still lingers on the curl.” The “bay-crown” refers to that most famous poet, Pindar, whose shadow-presence influences her lover’s talent through his “purpureal tresses.”

    The speaker insists that because of the high value she places on that black lock of hair, she will keep the lock close to her heart to keep it warm.  Likely, the speaker will place it in a locket, but she exaggerates her drama by saying she is binding it with her “smooth-kissing breath” and tying “the shadows safe from gliding back.”

    Second Tercet:  Ceremony of the Lock

    And lay the gift where nothing hindereth;
    Here on my heart, as on thy brow, to lack
    No natural heat till mine grows cold in death.

    In placing the lock next to her heart, the speaker is safe-guarding the “gift where nothing” can disturb it.  Close to the speaker’s heart, the lock will “lack / No natural heat” until, of course, the speaker “grows cold in death.”  The ceremony of the lock exchange is complete, and the love relationship will then progress to the next important stage.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 18 “I never gave a lock of hair away”

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

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 18 “I never gave a lock of hair away”

    In sonnet 18 “I never gave a lock of hair away” from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnets from the Portuguese,” the speaker dramatizes the simple act of giving a lock of her hair to her belovèd.

    Introduction with Text of Sonnet 18 “I never gave a lock of hair away”

    Sonnet 18 “I never gave a lock of hair away” from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese reveals the speaker musing on her feelings as she affords her belovèd the gift of a lock of her hair, of which she emphasizes its purity in that no other man has touched it.

    The tentative and lonely speaker continues to create little dramas in her developing relationship with her friend and belovèd, who happens to be a fellow poet.  No doubt her lover appreciates her musing and feels a great sense of pride in having her composing for his benefit.

    And the poet/speaker herself continues to develop from the shy individual whose countenance had thus far bespoken only melancholy, derived from much physical and mental suffering.

    Sonnet 18 “I never gave a lock of hair away”

    I never gave a lock of hair away
    To a man, Dearest, except this to thee,
    Which now upon my fingers thoughtfully,
    I ring out to the full brown length and say
    ‘Take it.’ My day of youth went yesterday;
    My hair no longer bounds to my foot’s glee,
    Nor plant I it from rose or myrtle-tree,
    As girls do, any more: it only may
    Now shade on two pale cheeks the mark of tears,
    Taught drooping from the head that hangs aside
    Through sorrow’s trick. I thought the funeral-shears
    Would take this first, but Love is justified,—
    Take it thou,—finding pure, from all those years,
    The kiss my mother left here when she died.

    Commentary on Sonnet 18  “I never gave a lock of hair away”v

    In sonnet 18 “I never gave a lock of hair away,” the speaker is dramatizing a little ritual of the simple act of giving a lock of her hair to her lover.  Such gift giving was a common occurrence in that era, but to this speaker, it becomes a momentous event owing to her years of solitary confinement and physical as well a mental suffering.

    First Quatrain:  A Virgin Lock

    I never gave a lock of hair away
    To a man, Dearest, except this to thee,
    Which now upon my fingers thoughtfully,
    I ring out to the full brown length and say

    The speaker begins by claiming that she has never given any other man a lock of her hair; it is, therefore, to her a particularly special act that she is now conferring on her lover this special lock. 

    She has excised a few strands that extend are the exact full length of her hair which she designates as brown in color, even though she later affirms that she is no longer a young woman.

    The strands rest upon her “fingers” as she philosophically dramatizes the event by saying a few words over them.  The object takes on a status of a sacred relic as she seems almost prayerful in handling them.

    This speaker is almost always full of drama, from agonizing over her miseries to proclaiming her now vast and growing love and affection for her belovèd. Her life is the stuff and substance of her poetry, and she lives it in each and every moment.

    This speaker’s intensity remains the very stuff of living life “deliberately” as promulgated by Barrett Browning’s contemporary, the American philosopher Henry David Thoreau, who affirmed, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.”  This speaker, in nurturing a love relationship with a fellow poet, is living deliberately as she composes verses exploring and celebrating that relationship.

    Second Quatrain:  Justifying the Gift

    ‘Take it.’ My day of youth went yesterday;
    My hair no longer bounds to my foot’s glee,
    Nor plant I it from rose or myrtle-tree,
    As girls do, any more: it only may

    The speaker hands the hair to her lover and commands him, “Take it.” She then reveals the fact that she is no longer a young woman.  She emphasizes that her youth has already passed her by.  She no longer runs and jumps and skips thus causing her hair to jostle about as she did when she was a child. 

    The speaker no longer performs little rituals with it such as offering strands of her hair to birds to build their nests.  She needs to justify giving away this lock of hair, just as her personality motivates her to justify everything she does and feels.  Such justification remains part of her notion of living life through deliberate acts.

    First Tercet:  Covering Her Poor Cheeks

    Now shade on two pale cheeks the mark of tears,
    Taught drooping from the head that hangs aside
    Through sorrow’s trick. I thought the funeral-shears

    In the first tercet of the sestet, the speaker then divulges the use to which she has long put her locks of hair, and it is not surprising that that use would be bound closely to her sorrow with which has lived her entire life. 

    The speaker does not disappoint as she reveals that the only use for those locks of brown hair has been to cover her poor cheeks which are so often streaked with tears.  She has shed tears so often and so profusely that she hardly recognizes herself without those streak running down her face.

    Those locks of hair have simply hung down over those tear-stained cheeks, and they have learned to hide the sorrow that urges those tears. She has become habituated to tilting her head a certain way to encourage the hair to act as a curtain to shield her sadness.

    This speaker’s framing of the rituals with simple strands of falling hair reveals the clever artist whose dramatic verse offers such colorful images that unfold the nature of her cloistered life.  Such drama emphasizes the importance of her new relationship with the important belovèd, who can now help her release the past agony with which she has had to contend.

    Second Tercet:  Her Chaste Hair

    Would take this first, but Love is justified,—
    Take it thou,—finding pure, from all those years,
    The kiss my mother left here when she died.

    The speaker’s final dramatic pose reveals that she thought some mortician would be the one to cut her hair. This image again emphasizes the morbidity of the thoughts with which the speaker has had to grapple for so many empty years. 

    But now her lover has came along and “justified” her cutting it herself and presenting it to him.  Her relief from the past morbid imagery becomes palpable.  She is finally free to accept that happiness may actually become a central feature in the existence.

    The speaker then emphasizes again that the hair is as pure as the day her mother left “the kiss” on it before she died.  She is repeating and emphasizing her claim that no other man has had access to her chaste hair.  The purity of this lock of hair becomes symbolic of the purity of the love relationship between the speaker and her belovèd.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 17 “My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Getty Images

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 17 “My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes”

    In sonnet 17 “My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes,” the poet’s always melancholy speaker muses on the art of poetics in her relationship with her poet/lover.  She considers her role in his art and how they might in future employ imagination to continue to be creatively productive.

    Introduction withText of Sonnet 17 “My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes”

    In sonnet 17 from her classic work Sonnets from the Portuguese, Elizabeth Barrett Browning again allows her speaker to hint at melancholy as she continues her efforts to sustain and understand her new love relationship, and her always melancholy speaker is now musing on the poetics of her relationship with her poet/lover.

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s speaker will continue to include a place for doubt as she journeys through her sequence of love songs to her belovèd.   The speaker’s charm remains subtle while always tinged with the possibility of sorrow.  Even as that former sadness in which she dwelt so heavily subsides, its specter seems forever to simmer just below the surface of consciousness.

    Sonnet 17 “My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes”

    My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes
    God set between his After and Before,
    And strike up and strike off the general roar
    Of the rushing worlds a melody that floats
    In a serene air purely. Antidotes
    Of medicated music, answering for
    Mankind’s forlornest uses, thou canst pour
    From thence into their ears. God’s will devotes
    Thine to such ends, and mine to wait on thine.
    How, Dearest, wilt thou have me for most use?
    A hope, to sing by gladly ? or a fine
    Sad memory, with thy songs to interfuse?
    A shade, in which to sing—of palm or pine?
    A grave, on which to rest from singing ? Choose.

    Commentary on Sonnet 17  “My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes”

    In sonnet 17 “My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes,” the poet’s always melancholy speaker muses on the poetics involved in her relationship with her poet/lover. A serious relationship between two poets would necessarily involve the creation of poetry and its ability to bind the lovers in certain literary ways.

    First Quatrain:  Praise for Poetic Prowess

    My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes
    God set between his After and Before,
    And strike up and strike off the general roar
    Of the rushing worlds a melody that floats

    The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 17 “My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes”  from Sonnets from the Portuguese addresses her belovèd, asserting that he 

    has ability to range far and wide in broaching the music that plays between the two artist/lovers.   She is quietly suggesting that God is bringing the two together through whisper of love that has played in their souls from the time before they even met.

    The speaker’s high praise for her lover’s poetic prowess demonstrates a shift in her observation from her own lowly station to his art. Because the speaker herself is a poet, she has, no doubt, known that she must eventually address the issue that both she and her belovèd share the same avocation.   It might well be expected that she will elevate his while remaining humble about her own, and that expectation is fulfilled in this poetic offering.  

    The speaker credits her belovèd with the ability to create worlds that make the ineffable mystery understandable to the ordinary consciousness; he is able to herald celestial music that contends with the creation of whole worlds of emotion.   The “rushing worlds” may seek to drown love in its massive sound, but her poet/lover’s ability to tame those sound renders the cacophony into melodies that are easily accepts.

    Second Quatrain:   Curing Boredom

    In a serene air purely. Antidotes
    Of medicated music, answering for
    Mankind’s forlornest uses, thou canst pour
    From thence into their ears. God’s will devotes

    The melody glides easily through an atmosphere made pure and serene by the unique ability of her poet/love to convert all chaos into peace, as well as all sadness into contentedness.  Mankind will find his dramatization “medicated music,” which will cure the boredom of “mankind’s forlornest uses.” Her belovèd retains the unique marvelous, unique talent to spill his melodic strains “into their ears.”

    First Tercet:  A Drama Sanctioned by the Divine

    Thine to such ends, and mine to wait on thine.
    How, Dearest, wilt thou have me for most use?
    A hope, to sing by gladly ? or a fine

    The speaker asserts that her greatly talented lover’s drama is, indeed, sanctioned by the Divine, and she is motivated as she patiently expects his creations to flaunt their magic and music to her as well.

    The speaker puts a complicated question to her belovèd: “How, Dearest, wilt thou have me for most use?” In that the speaker would perfectly fulfill her position as muse, she makes clear that she will be right alongside him in his every effort to sustain his God-given abilities.  Regardless of the theme or subject, whether it be “a hope, to sing by gladly,” the speaker suggests that she will continue to praise where necessity takes her.

    Second Tercet:  Useful Powers of Sorrow

    Sad memory, with thy songs to interfuse?
    A shade, in which to sing–of palm or pine?
    A grave, on which to rest from singing ? Choose.

    This speaker is not yet ready to relinquish her references to melancholy; thus her question continues with a set of propositions: perhaps she will offer “a fine / Sad memory.” She will, therefore, not be surprised that her powers of sorrow may be useful to them both in their poetic pursuits.  But the speaker also wonders if death themes might intrude at some point: “A shade, in which to sing—of palm or pine? / A grave, on which to rest from singing?”  

    It just may be that they will both become so satisfied with their comfortable love that they will have to rely more on imagination than they had ever thought. Thus the speaker admonishes her poetically talented belovèd that at some poi

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 16 “And yet, because thou overcomest so”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – NPG, London

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 16 “And yet, because thou overcomest so”

    The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 16 “And yet, because thou overcomest so”finally capitulates to the all consuming love that she has tried to deny herself, allowing herself only a speck of doubt.

    Introduction with Text of Sonnet 16 “And yet, because thou overcomest so”

    The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 16 from Sonnets from the Portuguese is  dramatizing her nearly concluded acceptance of the love from her “noble” king-like suitor.  She establishes  a colorful metaphor of royalty to express her new-found emotions.

    Sonnet 16 “And yet, because thou overcomest so”

    And yet, because thou overcomest so,
    Because thou art more noble and like a king,
    Thou canst prevail against my fears and fling
    Thy purple round me, till my heart shall grow
    Too close against thine heart henceforth to know
    How it shook when alone. Why, conquering
    May prove as lordly and complete a thing
    In lifting upward, as in crushing low!
    And as a vanquished soldier yields his sword
    To one who lifts him from the bloody earth,
    Even so, Belovèd, I at last record,
    Here ends my strife. If thou invite me forth,
    I rise above abasement at the word.
    Make thy love larger to enlarge my worth.

    Commentary on Sonnet 16 “And yet, because thou overcomest so”

    The speaker can finally be seen as capitulating to the all consuming love that she has tried to deny herself, allowing herself only a speck of doubt.

    First Quatrain:   Overcoming Fears and Doubts

    And yet, because thou overcomest so,
    Because thou art more noble and like a king,
    Thou canst prevail against my fears and fling
    Thy purple round me, till my heart shall grow

    The speaker, picking up from prior adversity, can now give in to her belovèd’s advances because he has, at last, been able to overcome her fears and doubts. She again likens him to royalty.  She labels him “noble” and he is able to rule her heart as king would rule his subjects.  

    Her royal suitor is banishing her fears as he places his protective shield “purple” around her life.  All of his noble, royalty-like actions and behaviors all her heart to grow fond of him and life that he has is now so gently guiding. 

    Her lover has the kingly powers of protecting even a doubtful heart such as her own. He can place his royal purple cape around her shoulders and affect the very beating of her heart.

    Second Quatrain:  A Fearful Heart

    Too close against thine heart henceforth to know
    How it shook when alone. Why, conquering
    May prove as lordly and complete a thing
    In lifting upward, as in crushing low!

    As her heart beats close to his, the speaker finds it difficult to grasp that it once felt so afraid of life and living when it found itself solitary and isolated. She has discovered that she can, in fact, imagine herself lifted from her self-imposed prison of melancholy.   The speaker can succumb to upward mobility as readily as she did to the downward spiral, “as in crushing low!”

    First Tercet:  A Bizarre Comparison

    And as a vanquished soldier yields his sword
    To one who lifts him from the bloody earth,
    Even so, Belovèd, I at last record,

    The speaker then dramatically and bizarrely compares her situation metaphorically to a “soldier” who surrenders in battle to “one who lifts him from the bloody earth.” The enemy becomes nurturing once his foe has been vanquished.    But for her, the battle was very real, and thus the metaphor remains quite apt. Thus she can finally and completely surrender.

    Second Tercet:  Reserving a Space to Doubt

    Here ends my strife. If thou invite me forth,
    I rise above abasement at the word.
    Make thy love larger to enlarge my worth.

    The speaker’s handing over of weapons and defensive mechanisms is accompanied by her revelation that her sorrowful struggles are ending.  She is on the verge of a major change of attitude from sadness to happiness, if she has the courage of accept that transformation.

    True to character, however, she must at least reserve some bit of possible future failure by stating her declaration in a conditional clause, “if thou invite me forth.”   She emphasizes “thou,” to make it clear that her belovèd is the only one to whom she could ever say these things.

    The speaker has quite likely almost one hundred per cent become convinced that he has invited her, but she still feels that she has to keep any downturn in her sights.   But if he does, in fact, keep that invitation open for her, she will be able to transcend her pain and rise above all the sorrow that has kept her abased for so many years.

    Once again, the speaker is giving him a great deal of power as she suggests that as her new attitude will “make thy love larger,” it will also “enlarge my worth.”   Thus loving him will increase her own value, not in large part because, in her eyes, his value is as large as a king’s worth. His royalty will become hers.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 15 “Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear”

    Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning – Two Poets in Love

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 15 “Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear”

    The speaker in sonnet 15 concentrates on her ambiguous facial expressions that have yet to catch up with her overflowing heart. She finds it difficult to be happy after being sad for most of her life.

    Introduction with Text of Sonnet 15 “Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear”

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 15 from Sonnets from the Portuguese finds the speaker again on the edge of doubt.   She has lived with a gloomy countenance for so long that she is reluctant to change it to one of sunshine and gaiety, even as her belovèd apparently chides her for the melancholy.

    Sonnet 15 “Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear”

    Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear
    Too calm and sad a face in front of thine;
    For we two look two ways, and cannot shine
    With the same sunlight on our brow and hair.
    On me thou lookest with no doubting care,
    As on a bee shut in a crystalline;
    Since sorrow hath shut me safe in love’s divine,
    And to spread wing and fly in the outer air
    Were most impossible failure, if I strove
    To fail so. But I look on thee—on thee—
    Beholding, besides love, the end of love,
    Hearing oblivion beyond memory;
    As one who sits and gazes from above,
    Over the rivers to the bitter sea.

    Commentary on Sonnet 15 “Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear”

    The speaker has remained in a sad state for so many years that she is now finding it difficult to be happy even as she has so much for which to be happy.  She knows she should be smiling but she is more accustomed to frowning.

    First Quatrain:  A Solemn Expression

    Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear
    Too calm and sad a face in front of thine;
    For we two look two ways, and cannot shine
    With the same sunlight on our brow and hair.

    Addressing her belovèd, the speaker begs him not to worry over her solemn expression. She has experienced great difficulty accepting this love relationship, in part because of her penchant for melancholy. 

    She has suffered physically and mentally for so long that it has become a part of her character and continues to disfigure her face.  She laments that she cannot change her facial expression so quickly, even with the shining example of her brilliant lover before her. 

    She dramatically asserts that because the two of them each “look two ways,” they cannot reflect the same kind of sunny disposition.  Their faces will remain according to their earlier penchant for each relevant emotion.

    Second Quatrain:   A Transformative State

    On me thou lookest with no doubting care,
    As on a bee shut in a crystalline;
    Since sorrow hath shut me safe in love’s divine,
    And to spread wing and fly in the outer air

    The speaker avers that her belovèd is able to look at her with great excitement and fervor without doubt or perturbation because he is as content as if he were observing “a bee in a crystalline.” But for her, the experience is still in a transformative state.

    She has been engulfed in “sorrow” for such an extended period of time that she feels she is still “shut [ ] safe in love’s divine.” Thus, still somewhat paralyzed by the full prospect of love, her unexercised limbs are still incapable of functioning well.

    First Tercet:  A Metaphorical Bird

    Were most impossible failure, if I strove
    To fail so. But I look on thee—on thee—
    Beholding, besides love, the end of love,

    The speaker invokes the metaphor of a bird flying or perhaps a bee that would “spread wing and fly,” but she claims that if she tried to “fly,” she would crash in failure.  Such a failure would be so odious that she calls it a “most impossible failure.” And she insists that she does not dare “fail so.” 

    When she looks at her belovèd, she sees such pure love that she thinks she sees through eternity to the “end of love”—not the stoppage of love but the goal of love, or the result that keeps her somewhat cautious.

    Second Tercet:  Transported by Love

    Hearing oblivion beyond memory;
    As one who sits and gazes from above,
    Over the rivers to the bitter sea.

    The speaker senses in her lover’s look a perfection of love that allows her not only to see but to hear “oblivion beyond memory.” She seems to be transported to a height from which she can observe the phenomena below. 

    She can see “the rivers [flowing] to the bitter sea.” The sea remains “bitter” for now, but with all those rivers feeding it, she senses that one day she will look on it with kinder, more confident eyes.