Tag: love sonnets

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 30 “I see thine image through my tears to-night”

The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 30 “I see thine image through my tears to-night” is indulging herself in doubts as she contemplates the thought that her belovèd is little more than a fantasy.

Introduction and Text of Sonnet 30 “I see thine image through my tears to-night”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 30 “I see thine image through my tears to-night” from Sonnets from the Portuguese dramatizes the regression of the speaker as she wonders if she has merely created dreamlike the love of her belovèd.

Sonnet 30 “I see thine image through my tears to-night” gives the speaker the space to indulge  in doubts.  She allows herself to go backward to her earlier stage of melancholy.  To her distress, she is now contemplating the possibility, and to her the likelihood, that her lover is little more than a fantasy without a shred of reality.

Sonnet 30 “I see thine image through my tears to-night”

I see thine image through my tears to-night,
And yet to-day I saw thee smiling. How
Refer the cause?—Beloved, is it thou
Or I, who makes me sad? The acolyte
Amid the chanted joy and thankful rite
May so fall flat, with pale insensate brow,
On the altar-stair. I hear thy voice and vow,
Perplexed, uncertain, since thou art out of sight,
As he, in his swooning ears, the choir’s Amen.
Beloved, dost thou love? or did I see all
The glory as I dreamed, and fainted when
Too vehement light dilated my ideal,
For my soul’s eyes? Will that light come again,
As now these tears come—falling hot and real?

Commentary on Sonnet 30 “I see thine image through my tears to-night”

The speaker is indulging herself in doubts as she contemplates the thought that her belovèd is little more than a fantasy.  She is finding it difficult again to maintain her posture of happiness because her habit for sorrow.

First Quatrain:  Remembering An Earlier Visit

I see thine image through my tears to-night,
And yet to-day I saw thee smiling. How
Refer the cause?—Beloved, is it thou
Or I, who makes me sad? The acolyte

The speaker remarks that she is shedding tears as she appears to be looking at his picture or perhaps just visualizing him as in a dream.  The now sorrowful speaker ponders the cause of her tears, addressing her belovèd with a question regarding the origin of her tears. 

She asks him if she is the cause of her sadness or if he is the origin.  With a strange juxtaposition, the speaker then begins to imagine a ceremony, perhaps, the wedding of her belovèd and herself.

Second Quatrain:  A Dream-State Visualization

Amid the chanted joy and thankful rite
May so fall flat, with pale insensate brow,
On the altar-stair. I hear thy voice and vow,
Perplexed, uncertain, since thou art out of sight,

In her dream-state, the speaker visualizes an attendant to the service, and “the acolyte” stumbles and falls “flat” “[o]n the altar-stair.”   Such an unexpected accident provides not only a comic outrage but also a farcical intrusion into such the solemn occasion.

The speaker’s imagination is allowing her to hallucinate; no doubt such a nightmare comes from the hypersensitive nature of the speaker.   The reader is aware of the intensity of this speaker’s emotions as she has gone from a nearly complete recluse with feelings of abandonment to the betrothed of a suitor, whom she deems much above her class in society.

The speaker then asserts that she “hear[s his] voice and vow.” But his voice and vow are “perplexed” and “uncertain.” And he is “out of sight.” Again, the reader detects those old feelings of doubt that the speaker has suffered since the beginning of these adventures in romance.

First Tercet:  Contemplating Possibilities

As he, in his swooning ears, the choir’s Amen.
Beloved, dost thou love? or did I see all
The glory as I dreamed, and fainted when

The speaker wonders if the stumbling attendant has been overwhelmed by “the choir’s Amen.” And then she contemplates the possibility that she is dreaming this love that has become so important to her, and thus she questions, “Belovèd, dost thou love?”  Or perhaps, the agitated speaker has, in fact, dreamed it all, for she wonders, “did I see all / The glory as I dreamed?” 

If it is nothing but a dream, it would be quite natural for her to stumble and fall; thus, it was not an assistant but the speaker herself who has stumbled and fallen upon those altar steps.

Second Tercet:  To Believe Good Fortune

Too vehement light dilated my ideal,
For my soul’s eyes? Will that light come again,
As now these tears come—falling hot and real?

The speaker considers the possibility that again she has allowed herself to believe in the good fortune of finding a loving mate as brilliant as her belovèd suitor seems to be.  And now the fact may be that it was all a fantasy; perhaps, the glow from her suitor has been exaggerated in her own mine.

The speaker cannot help but wonder and therefore she puts to him the question, “Will that light come again?”   And the desperate speaker then compares that urgency to “these tears” that she now emphasizes are “falling hot and real?”

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 27 “My own Belovèd, who hast lifted me”

The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 27  “My own Belovèd, who hast lifted me” alludes to the Greek mythological Asphodel Meadows to dramatize her life’s transformation after meeting her belovèd.

Introduction and Text of Sonnet 27 “My own Belovèd, who hast lifted me”

In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 27 “My own Belovèd, who hast lifted me” from Sonnets from the Portuguese, the speaker again is dramatizing the contrast between how her life was before she met her belovèd fiancé and how it is now that she has found the love of her life. 

In this sonnet, the speaker employs an allusion to the Greek mythological “Asphodel Meadows” in order to dramatize the transformation her life has undergone after meeting and growing close to her belovèd.

The speaker asserts the contrast between her life after meeting her belovèd to her former miserable state of being in order to establish herself firmly in the relationship, which she had earlier attempted to deny.

Sonnet 27 “My own Belovèd, who hast lifted me”

My own Belovèd, who hast lifted me
From this drear flat of earth where I was thrown,
And, in betwixt the languid ringlets, blown
A life-breath, till the forehead hopefully
Shines out again, as all the angels see,
Before thy saving kiss! My own, my own,
Who camest to me when the world was gone,
And I who looked for only God, found thee!
I find thee; I am safe, and strong, and glad.
As one who stands in dewless asphodel,
Looks backward on the tedious time he had
In the upper life,—so I, with bosom-swell,
Make witness, here, between the good and bad,
That Love, as strong as Death, retrieves as well.

Commentary on Sonnet 27 “My own Belovèd, who hast lifted me”

The speaker in sonnet 27 “My own Belovèd, who hast lifted me” is alluding to the Greek mythological Asphodel Meadows to dramatize her life’s transformation after meeting her belovèd.

First Quatrain:  A Cruel Life

My own Belovèd, who hast lifted me
From this drear flat of earth where I was thrown,
And, in betwixt the languid ringlets, blown
A life-breath, till the forehead hopefully

The speaker begins by addressing her belovèd directly, telling him again about how he came to her at her lowest point of depression.  Her belovèd has raised the speaker from the depths of utter despair which she now describes as “this drear flat of earth where I was thrown.” 

The speaker’s life has been so cruel to her that she felt that she was not only sinking but was also violently “thrown” to her lowest level. Even the speaker’s hair had become limp and lifeless as her “languid ringlets” attested, until her lover had “blown / A life-breath” and her forehead would finally come alive with brightness.

Second Quatrain:  An Infusion of Hope

Shines out again, as all the angels see,
Before thy saving kiss! My own, my own,
Who camest to me when the world was gone,
And I who looked for only God, found thee!

After the speaker’s belovèd suitor had lovingly kissed her pale forehead, she then became infused with the hope that she would brighten, “as all the angels see.” 

The speaker then exclaims and repeats, “My own, my own”; he is now her own belovèd who has entered her life at a time when there seemed to be nothing in the world for which she could go on living.

This sonnet, unfortunately, may sounds a bit as if the speaker has chosen her human lover over God. The speaker reports that she sought “only God,” before her belovèd’s arrival, but then unexpectedly she “found thee!” 

However, in earlier sonnets, this speaker has made it clear that she is thankful to God for sending her belovèd and that God knows what is appropriate for His children.

Thus, the speaker is not suggesting that her suitor is replacing God in the life; she is expressing the fact that now she has a human love in her life, as well as God’s. 

She has already acknowledged that God was in her life as she struggled to become closer to the Divine Creator.  The difference is that her Creator has now brought her together with a soul mate for the continuation of her earthy incarnation.

First Tercet:   Celebration of Love

I find thee; I am safe, and strong, and glad.
As one who stands in dewless asphodel,
Looks backward on the tedious time he had

The speaker continues to celebrate finding her human love, as she reports the uplifting feelings she now experiences: “I am safe, and strong, and glad.”  The speaker then employs the allusion to the Greek mythological positioning of souls in the afterlife, stating, “As one who stands in dewless asphodel.” 

The “Asphodel Meadows” are located between heaven and hell, and she thus likens herself to an individual positioned between the ultimate good and ultimate bad.   As the speaker “looks backward” to her old life, she deems that time “tedious” compared to how she feels now.

Second Tercet:  The Superior Action of Love 

In the upper life,—so I, with bosom-swell,
Make witness, here, between the good and bad,
That Love, as strong as Death, retrieves as well.

The speaker now sees herself as one testifying that while “Death” ushers a soul to a different level of being, she has discovered that “Love” does so as well.   And the speaker’s reaction with a “bosom-swell” demonstrates that she is witness to the superior action of love.

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

• Introduction to Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese  Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s classic work, Sonnets from the Portuguese, is the poet’s most anthologized and widely published work, studied by students in secondary schools, colleges, and universities and appreciated by the general poetry lover.

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 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.