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Tag: Robert Browning

  • 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 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.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 14 “If thou must love me, let it be for nought”

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

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 14 “If thou must love me, let it be for nought”

    In sonnet 14, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s speaker is insisting that her suitor love her only for the sake of love, not for her physical qualities such as her smiling lips or the soft manner in which she speaks.

    Introduction with Text of Sonnet 14 “If thou must love me, let it be for nought”

    The speaker in this sonnet from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s classic Sonnets from the Portuguese is now graciously receiving her suitor’s affection.  Nevertheless, she also feels it necessary to make him aware that she expects that their budding relationship should not only continue to grow but should become permanent.  She therefore delineates the nature of the love she anticipates that the two will share.

    Sonnet 14 “If thou must love me, let it be for nought”

    If thou must love me, let it be for nought
    Except for love’s sake only. Do not say
    “I love her for her smile—her look—her way
    Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
    That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
    A sense of pleasant ease on such a day”—
    For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may
    Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
    May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
    Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry,—
    A creature might forget to weep, who bore
    Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
    But love me for love’s sake, that evermore
    Thou mayst love on, through love’s eternity.

    Commentary on Sonnet 14 “If thou must love me, let it be for nought”

    The speaker insists that her beloved offer her affection only based on love and not for any physical qualities that she demonstrates, including the way she smiles or the manner in which she speaks.

    First Quatrain:  Continuing to Remain Somewhat Tentative

    If thou must love me, let it be for nought
    Except for love’s sake only. Do not say
    “I love her for her smile—her look—her way
    Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought

    The speaker’s tentativeness continues,  even though she seems to be contemplating the much desired joy of such a love relationship.  Her continued procrastination remains as a shield for her heart, in case the relationship ends.   She is signaling the likelihood of her acceptance by affirming, “If thou must love me,” but not with the oft-touted insulting phrase, if-you-really-love-me.

    The uncomplicated, single term “must” declares that a change is in the offing.  It demonstrates that she now realizes the true nature of this man’s love, although she cannot bring herself to have total faith that some feature in her nature could never assert itself and thus spoil such a love that seems to be so true.

    The speaker is requesting pragmatically that he love her for love alone, and not because of  the physical, therefore superficial, qualities that too often attract lovers.  She does not desire that her lover to be in love merely with the physical qualities she possesses such as her smile and speaking manner.

    Second Quatrain: Contempt for the Superficial

    That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
    A sense of pleasant ease on such a day”—
    For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may
    Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,

    The speaker then is unveiling her reason for being dismayed by superficial kinds of attention that often engages lovers.  Those qualities too often prove to be “a trick of thought.”  Suppose that her smile be pleasant to him one day but not so much the next day.  If he were fixed upon such a smile, she fears his feeling for her would diminish.

    The speaker does not wish that her partner’s love to be guided only by mood.  She suspects that if she offers him a pleasant glance but later offers a melancholy sorrow his love for her may become negatively affected.  

    Also, her speech to him may from time to time vary and not always offer him the same level of delight.  She knows she will not always be able to engage in conversation that is brimming only with joyful pleasantries.

    The speaker comprehends well that love based on change cannot maintain a lasting, steadfast love relationship.  Thus she is letting him know that she is aware that the physical is very likely to change, but true love should not change; love should remain constant.  She wants to let him know that she can only engage in an unconditional love that is founded on unchanging affection.

    First Tercet:  Accepting No Pity

    May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
    Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry,—
    A creature might forget to weep, who bore

    The speaker is offering an additional demand that he not love her with pity in his heart.  She has often explored the reaches of the melancholy that has caused her to shed tears often and for long periods of time.  And if his love were tainted with pity and sympathy for her sorrowful lot, what would occur with that pity, were she to “forget to weep”?

    She reasons that if or when she likely becomes a happily, contented woman, her beloved would then have one less reason to continue to love her, if he had allowed his love for her to include the negativity of pity and sympathy.

    Second Tercet:   Love for Love’s Sake Alone

    Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
    But love me for love’s sake, that evermore
    Thou mayst love on, through love’s eternity.

    The speaker deems it very important to make her paramour aware that she wants to be loved for no reason other than that she exists.  If she is loved because of physical features, or because of the fact that she has deeply suffered and somehow now deserves to be content, true, lasting love could never continue to remain.

    Therefore, if her beloved will love her as she requests and just love her for “love’s sake,” she is convinced that their love will exist “through love’s eternity.”  She has weighed the calamity of false starts, and she makes it clear that she wishes to avoid the pain of a failed relationship.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 13 “And wilt thou have me fashion into speech”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – NPG, London

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 13 “And wilt thou have me fashion into speech“

    The speaker in sonnet 13 muses on the idea of composing a verse about her newly found emotion but hesitates for fear of touching the grief she suffers. 

    Introduction with Text of Sonnet 13 “And wilt thou have me fashion into speech”

    In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 13 from Sonnets from the Portuguese, the speaker attempts to respond to her suitor’s encouragement to transcribe her feelings for him in a poem, but she does not yet believe she is ready to plumb the depths of her feelings.

    Sonnet 13 “And wilt thou have me fashion into speech”

    And wilt thou have me fashion into speech
    The love I bear thee, finding words enough,
    And hold the torch out, while the winds are rough,
    Between our faces, to cast light on each?
    I drop it at thy feet. I cannot teach
    My hand to hold my spirit so far off
    From myself—me—that I should bring thee proof
    In words, of love hid in me out of reach.
    Nay, let the silence of my womanhood
    Commend my woman-love to thy belief,—
    Seeing that I stand unwon, however wooed,
    And rend the garment of my life, in brief,
    By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude,
    Lest one touch of this heart convey its grief.

    Commentary on Sonnet 13 “And wilt thou have me fashion into speech”

    The speaker in sonnet 13 muses on the idea of composing a verse about her newly found emotion of love, but she hesitates for she fears touching the grief that still confronts her.

    First Quatrain:  Should She Express Her Love?

    And wilt thou have me fashion into speech
    The love I bear thee, finding words enough,
    And hold the torch out, while the winds are rough,
    Between our faces, to cast light on each?

    The speaker beseeches her beloved wondering if she should “fashion into speech” how she feels about him. She feels that she may not yet be ready to express verbally the feelings that are beginning to move her. Undoubtedly, she believes that outward verbal expression may hamper her unique emotions.

    If she translated her feelings into words, she fears they would behave as a “torch” and would “cast light on each” of their faces.  However, that would happen only if the wind did not blow out their fire. 

    She believes she must protect her increasing emotion from all outside forces; therefore, she opens with a question. She cannot be certain that remaining silent is any longer the proper way to behave.

    Second Quatrain:  Unsteadied by Emotion

    I drop it at thy feet. I cannot teach
    My hand to hold my spirit so far off
    From myself—me—that I should bring thee proof
    In words, of love hid in me out of reach.

    The speaker then dramatically asserts that she, “drop[s] at [his] feet”; she does this because she cannot remain steady in his presence, as she is overcome with emotion. She becomes so agitated with the notion of love, and she cannot calm down in order to write what might be coherent about her intense feelings.

    The sonnet suggests that her beloved has asked the poet/speaker for a poem about her feelings for him; however, she believes that her love is so profoundly heartfelt that she may not be able to shapes its significance in words.

    The speaker feels that she cannot perceive the appropriate images for they are, “hid in me out of reach.” She feels that she must wait for a time when she has found enough tranquility to be able to “fashion into speech” the complex, deep feelings she is experiencing because of her love for this man.

    First Tercet:   Remaining Self-Aware

    Nay, let the silence of my womanhood
    Commend my woman-love to thy belief,—
    Seeing that I stand unwon, however wooed,

    The speaker concludes therefore that “the silence of [her] womanhood” will have to function to persuade him that she does possess those deep feeling of love for him.  She confesses  that she has remained a bit distant from her beloved, when she says she is “unwon.” 

    Although he has “wooed” her, she feels that she must keep a portion of her self out of sight for very deeply personal reasons. She must make sure she stays present and connected in her own self.

    Second Tercet:   Dramatizing the Depth of Pain

    And rend the garment of my life, in brief,
    By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude,
    Lest one touch of this heart convey its grief.

    The sonnet sequence has dramatized the depth of the pain and melancholy the speaker has endured her entire life-long. She is still suffering that same pain and sadness. She thus again reveals that if she too soon tries to place her feeling into a poem, she would perhaps only “convey [her heart’s] grief.”

    The speaker remains fearful of the notion that “a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude” could impede the power with which she is being propelled toward completely accepting the current relationship with her new-found belovèd.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 12 “Indeed this very love which is my boast”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning – Two Poets in Love

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 12 “Indeed this very love which is my boast”

    In sonnet 12 from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnets from the Portuguese,” her speaker is becoming more comfortable, realizing that she is truly loved by her suitor.  Still she gives him all credit for her ability to love as deeply as she does.

    Introduction with Text of Sonnet 12 “Indeed this very love which is my boast”

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 12 from Sonnets from the Portuguese portrays the speaker as she muses on the happiness of having fallen in love with one so illustrious and accomplished as is her suitor.

    Sonnet 12 “Indeed this very love which is my boast”

    Indeed this very love which is my boast,
    And which, when rising up from breast to brow,
    Doth crown me with a ruby large enow
    To draw men’s eyes and prove the inner cost,—
    This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,
    I should not love withal, unless that thou
    Hadst set me an example, shown me how,
    When first thine earnest eyes with mine were crossed,
    And love called love. And thus, I cannot speak
    Of love even, as a good thing of my own:
    Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weak,
    And placed it by thee on a golden throne,—
    And that I love (O soul, we must be meek!)
    Is by thee only, whom I love alone.

    Commentary on Sonnet 12 “Indeed this very love which is my boast”

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s speaker in this sonnet is musing on her good fortune to have attracted the attention of a man, who is without doubt above her class status.  And what is more important is that he has accomplished much and is recognized as a excellent poet.

    First Quatrain:  The Effects of Love

    Indeed this very love which is my boast,
    And which, when rising up from breast to brow,
    Doth crown me with a ruby large enow
    To draw men’s eyes and prove the inner cost,—

    The speaker recognizes the effects of the love she is experiencing.  She flushes red-cheeked as she muses on her good luck.  She believes it entirely appropriate that she “boast” because of her good fortune.  She thinks that whoever sees her can understand that she is glowing with love from “breast to brow” because of her wonderful, dynamic suitor. 

    The speaker reports that her heart has gained speed, rushing to her face the blood results in the blushing that announces to the world that she is in love.  She no longer can keep private her joy at being loved.  Her feelings have become too full, too great to contain with a neutral pose.

    Second Quatrain:  Learning Deep Love

    This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,
    I should not love withal, unless that thou
    Hadst set me an example, shown me how,
    When first thine earnest eyes with mine were crossed,

    Then the speaker declares something truly astonishing: she admits that without her beloved teaching her how to love at such a depth, she would not have been able to do so.  Without his example, she would never have understood how love can completely engulf the heart and mind.

    The speaker gradually little by little is coming to comprehend the importance of her burgeoning affection.  She now begins to realize the glorious state of affairs that actually started as soon as their eyes first connected in their first love’s deep glance.

    First Tercet:  Naming the Emotion

    And love called love. And thus, I cannot speak
    Of love even, as a good thing of my own:
    Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weak,

    The speaker realized for the first time the beauty of naming that magnificent emotion “love”—for it was then that for her, indeed, “love called love”—only at that momentous occasion when the pair of lovers first looked deeply into each other’s eyes.

    Not only was the emotion labeled, but the feeling itself was also brought forth. The emotion resided within her deep heart; her beloved brought the emotion into her open consciousness. 

    She finds that she still “cannot speak” about love without acknowledging the existence, the existential presence, of her beloved. For her, love and her suitor are virtually synonymous because he “snatched up” her soul at a time that it was “all faint and weak.”

    Second Tercet:  Liberating a Weak Spirit

    And placed it by thee on a golden throne,—
    And that I love (O soul, we must be meek!)
    Is by thee only, whom I love alone.

    After liberating her faint, weak soul, her suitor raised her and set her beside him, “on a golden throne.” Metaphorically, she likens the bliss of his love to a royal asset of high value—an apt comparison because of all the many references to royalty she has employed to describe her suitor.

    The speaker again bestows all credit to her suitor for the being able to love as profoundly as she does.  She even tells her own soul that “we must be meek.”  The speaker never wants to lose the humility she was blessed with.  She never wants to forget that her own soul is the repository of all love.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 11 “And therefore if to love can be desert”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Library of Congress

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 11 “And therefore if to love can be desert”

    The speaker is still walking the path to self-acceptance, still looking for the courage to believe in her own good fortune at finding a love that she wants to deserve.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 11: “And therefore if to love can be desert”

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 11 from Sonnets from the Portuguese features the continued philosophizing of the obsessed speaker as she falls in love while trying to justify that love to herself and to her belovèd.

    Sonnet 11 “And therefore if to love can be desert”

    And therefore if to love can be desert,
    I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as pale
    As these you see, and trembling knees that fail
    To bear the burden of a heavy heart,—
    This weary minstrel-life that once was girt
    To climb Aornus, and can scarce avail
    To pipe now ‘gainst the valley nightingale
    A melancholy music,—why advert
    To these things? O Belovèd, it is plain
    I am not of thy worth nor for thy place!
    And yet, because I love thee, I obtain
    From that same love this vindicating grace,
    To live on still in love, and yet in vain,—
    To bless thee, yet renounce thee to thy face.

    Reading

    Commentary on Sonnet 11 “And therefore if to love can be desert”

    The speaker remains reluctant to engage in her own self-acceptance.  She is still looking for enough courage to accept her own good fortune in finding a love of which she desire to become deserving .

    First Quatrain:  Berating Her Own Value

    And therefore if to love can be desert,
    I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as pale
    As these you see, and trembling knees that fail
    To bear the burden of a heavy heart,

    The speaker, who so often has devalued her own self worth, now continues to evolve toward accepting the idea that she might, in fact, be “not all unworthy.”  She contends that if the ability to love can be deserved, as an award for goodness or service, she feels that it just might be possible for her to have enough importance to accept the love of one so obviously above her in status and accomplishments.

    Again, however, she begins her litany of flaws; she has pale cheeks, and her knees tremble so that she can hardly “bear the burden of a heavy heart.”  She continues her string of self-deprecations into the second quatrain and first tercet.

    Second Quatrain:  To Accomplish Great Things

    This weary minstrel-life that once was girt
    To climb Aornus, and can scarce avail
    To pipe now ‘gainst the valley nightingale
    A melancholy music,—why advert

    The speaker has lived a “weary minstrel-life,” and while she once thought of accomplishing great things, as Alexander the Great had taken Aornus, she now finds herself barely able to compose a few melancholy poems.  She finds it difficult even to compete “’gainst the valley nightingale.” 

    However, she has also decided, while both thinking of and obsessing over these negative aspects of the life, to reconsider her possibilities.   She realizes that she is merely distracting herself from more important issues by continuing to retain negative thoughts about which she spends too much time obsessing.

    First Tercet: Concentration on Negativity

    To these things? O Belovèd, it is plain
    I am not of thy worth nor for thy place!
    And yet, because I love thee, I obtain

    Thus the speaker asks herself, “why advert / / To these things?”  Indeed, why concentrate on the past negativity, as such a glorious future has been heralded? She then directly addresses her suitor, claiming, “O Belovèd, it is plain / I am not of thy worth.” 

    She still insists on making it known how aware she is that she is not of her suitor’s status. However, she is now willing to consider that they might be able to grow a relationship.

    Second Tercet: Advancing a Philosophical Position

    From that same love this vindicating grace,
    To live on still in love, and yet in vain,—
    To bless thee, yet renounce thee to thy face.

    The speaker advances an odd philosophical position that because she loves the man, that love will offer her “vindicating grace.”  Thus, she can accept his love and love him while still allowing herself to believe that such a love is “in vain” and that she can still “bless” him with her love, while simultaneously she can “renounce [him] to [his] face.”

    The speaker’s complex of accepting and rejecting allows her to continue to believe she is both worthy yet somehow not quite worthy of this love.  She cannot forsake the notion that she can never be equal to him.  

    Yet, she can accept his love and the prospect that somehow, somewhere beyond her ability to grasp it is the possibility that despite all of her flaws, she ultimately is deserving of such a great and glorious love.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 10 “Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed”

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

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 10 “Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed”

    The speaker of sonnet 10 is beginning to reason that despite her flaws, the transformative power of love can change her negative, dismissive attitude.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 10 “Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed”

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 10 from Sonnets from the Portuguese finds the speaker’s attitude slowly but surely evolving.  She is now allowing herself to reason that if God can love his lowliest creatures, surely a man can love a flawed woman.  Thus, through that magic power, those flaws may be overcome.

    Sonnet 10  “Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed”

    Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed
    And worthy of acceptation. Fire is bright,
    Let temple burn, or flax; an equal light
    Leaps in the flame from cedar-plank or weed:
    And love is fire. And when I say at need
    I love thee … mark! … I love thee—in thy sight
    I stand transfigured, glorified aright,
    With conscience of the new rays that proceed
    Out of my face toward thine. There’s nothing low
    In love, when love the lowest: meanest creatures
    Who love God, God accepts while loving so.
    And what I feel, across the inferior features
    Of what I am, doth flash itself, and show
    How that great work of Love enhances Nature’s.

    Reading  

    Commentary on Sonnet 10 “Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed”

    The speaker of sonnet 10 is beginning to reason that despite her flaws, the transformative power of love can change her negative, dismissive attitude.  As she begins to turn her negativity around, she puts on a brighter glow of enthusiasm.

    First Quatrain:  The Value of Love

    Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed
    And worthy of acceptation. Fire is bright,
    Let temple burn, or flax; an equal light
    Leaps in the flame from cedar-plank or weed:

    The speaker begins to focus on the value of love, finding that emotion to be “beautiful” and even “worthy of acceptation.” She likens love to fire and finds love to be “bright” as love is also a flame in the heart and mind.  She contends that the power of fire and the light it emits remains the same force regardless of the fuel that feeds it—whether it is “from cedar-plank” or even if it is from “weed.” 

    Thus, the melancholy speaker is beginning to believe that her suitor’s love can burn as bright even if she is the motivation, although she metaphorically considers herself to be the weed rather than the cedar-plank.

    Second Quatrain:  Fire and Love

    And love is fire. And when I say at need
    I love thee … mark! … I love thee—in thy sight
    I stand transfigured, glorified aright,
    With conscience of the new rays that proceed

    The speaker continues the metaphorical comparison of love to fire and boldly states that love is, indeed, fire.  She audaciously proclaims her love for her suitor and contends that by saying she loves him, she transforms her lowly self, and thereby she can arise transformed and even reflect an honest kind of glory.  The awareness of the vibrations of love that exude from her being causes her to be magnified and made better than she normally believes herself to be.

    First Tercet:  God’s Love

    Out of my face toward thine. There’s nothing low
    In love, when love the lowest: meanest creatures
    Who love God, God accepts while loving so.

    The speaker avers that there is nothing about love that is “low.”  God loves all of his creatures, even the lowliest.  The speaker is evolving toward true acceptance of her suitor’s attention and affection, but she has to convince her doubting mind that there exist sufficiently good reasons for her to change her negative outlook.

    Obviously, the speaker has no intention of changing her beliefs in her own low station in life.  She carries her past in the heart and mind, and all of her tears and sorrows have permanently tainted her own view of herself.  But she can turn toward acceptance and allow herself to be loved, and through that love, she can, at least, bask in its joy as a chilled person would bask in sunshine.

    Second Tercet:  The Transformative Powers of Love

    And what I feel, across the inferior features
    Of what I am, doth flash itself, and show
    How that great work of Love enhances Nature’s.

    The speaker will continue to think of herself as inferior, but because she can now believe that one as illustrious as her suitor can love her, she is opening her heart and mind to the possibility of the transformative powers of love.  She still insists on her inferiority, asserting that she possesses “inferior features.”  

    And she must “feel” her way across such ingrained realities.  But she also can now affirm that the power of love is so great that it can enhance the qualities and feature of Nature itself.  Such a power demands respect, and the speaker is awakening to that reality.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 8 “What can I give thee back, O liberal”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Getty Images

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 8 “What can I give thee back, O liberal”

    The speaker continues to deny her good fortune as she reveals her gratitude for the attention of her illustrious suitor; she begins to accept her lot but reluctantly.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 8 “What can I give thee back, O liberal”

    Sonnet 8 from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese finds the speaker continuing to doubt and deny her great fortune in attracting such an accomplished and generous suitor.  However, she is slowly beginning to accept the possibility that this amazing man could have affection for her.

    Sonnet 8 “What can I give thee back, O liberal”

    What can I give thee back, O liberal
    And princely giver, who hast brought the gold
    And purple of thine heart, unstained, untold,
    And laid them on the outside of the wall
    For such as I to take or leave withal,
    In unexpected largesse? am I cold,
    Ungrateful, that for these most manifold
    High gifts, I render nothing back at all?
    Not so; not cold,—but very poor instead.
    Ask God who knows. For frequent tears have run
    The colors from my life, and left so dead
    And pale a stuff, it were not fitly done
    To give the same as pillow to thy head.
    Go farther! let it serve to trample on.

    Reading 

    Commentary on Sonnet 8 “What can I give thee back, O liberal”

    The speaker continues to deny her good fortune as she reveals her gratitude for the attention of her illustrious suitor; she begins to accept her lot but reluctantly.

    First Quatrain:  Baffled by Attention

    What can I give thee back, O liberal
    And princely giver, who hast brought the gold
    And purple of thine heart, unstained, untold,
    And laid them on the outside of the wall

    The speaker once again finds herself baffled by the attention she receives from one who is so much above her station in life. He has given her so much, being a “liberal / And princely giver.”  The term “liberal” here means openly generous.

    Her suitor has brought his valuable poetry to her along with his own upper-class qualities and manners. She metaphorically assigns all of those gifts to the status of “gold and purple,” the colors of royalty, and she locates them “outside the wall.”

    The suitor romances her by serenading her under her window, and she is astonished by the good fortune she is experiencing.  She cannot comprehend how one so delicate and lowly positioned as herself can merit the attention she continues to garner from this handsome, accomplished poet.

    Second Quatrain:  Rejecting or Accepting

    For such as I to take or leave withal,
    In unexpected largesse? am I cold,
    Ungrateful, that for these most manifold
    High gifts, I render nothing back at all? 

    The handsome suitor provides the speaker with the choice of taking his affections and attentions or rejecting them, and she is very grateful for all she receives even as she regrets that she has nothing to offer in return.  She declaims: “I render nothing back at all?”  She frames her lack into a question that answers itself, implying that even though she may seem “ungrateful,” nothing could be further from the truth.

    The rhetorical intensity achieved through dramatizing her feelings in a rhetorical question enhances not only the sonnet’s artistry but also adds dimension to those same feelings.  The rhetorical question device magnifies the emotion.  Instead of employing overused expressions along the lines of “definitely” or “very,” the speaker uses the rhetorical question  to fuse the poetic tools into a dramatic expression that fairly explodes with emotion.

    First Tercet:  No Lack of Passion

    Not so; not cold,—but very poor instead.
    Ask God who knows. For frequent tears have run
    The colors from my life, and left so dead

    The speaker, however, does not leave the question open to possible misinterpretation; she then quite starkly answers, “No so; not cold.” She does not lack passion about the gifts her suitor bestows upon her; she is merely “very poor instead.”

    She insists that it is “God who knows” the extent of her poverty as well as the depth of her gratitude. She then admits that through much shedding of tears, she has caused the details of her life to fade as clothing rinsed many times in water would become “pale a stuff.”

    Second Tercet:  Low Self Esteem

    And pale a stuff, it were not fitly done
    To give the same as pillow to thy head.
    Go farther! let it serve to trample on.

    The speaker’s lack of a colorful life, her lowly station, her simplicity of expression have all combined to make her denigrate herself before the higher class suitor with whom she feels compelled to contrast herself.

    She is still not able to reconcile her lack to his plenty, and again she wants to urge him to go from her because she feels her lack is worth so little that it might “serve to trample on.”  Her hopes and dreams she will keep hidden until they can override the reality of her personal lack of experience and life station.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 3 “Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!”

    Image:  Elizabeth Barrett Browning –  Getty Images

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 3 “Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!”

    The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 3 muses on how unlikely it seems that a plain individual such as herself would begin a relationship with a person who has attracted royalty.

    Introduction and Text of Sonnet 3  “Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!”

    The speaker of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet 3 from Sonnets from the Portuguese contemplates the differences between her belovèd and her humble self.  She continues her study of unlikely love employing the use of the Petrarchan sonnet form for the sequence.  

    The speaker thus is dramatizing her musings as they focus on her relationship with her belovèd partner. She explores her many doubts and self-deprecation seeming to be looking for a reason to change her mind about what seems to be an impossible liaison.

    Sonnet 3 “Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!”

    Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!
    Unlike our uses and our destinies.
    Our ministering two angels look surprise
    On one another, as they strike athwart
    Their wings in passing. Thou, bethink thee, art
    A guest for queens to social pageantries,
    With gages from a hundred brighter eyes
    Than tears even can make mine, to play thy part
    Of chief musician. What hast thou to do
    With looking from the lattice-lights at me,
    A poor, tired, wandering singer, singing through
    The dark, and leaning up a cypress tree?
    The chrism is on thine head,—on mine, the dew,—
    And Death must dig the level where these agree.

    Commentary on Sonnet 3:  “Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!”

    The speaker in sonnet 3 is musing on how unlikely it seems that an unknown simple individual such as herself could attract and begin a relationship with a person who has attracted the attention and respect of royalty.

    First Quatrain:  Contemplating Differences

    Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!
    Unlike our uses and our destinies.
    Our ministering two angels look surprise
    On one another, as they strike athwart

    The speaker begins with an excited utterance.  The humble speaker and her newly formed romantic partner perform very different roles in life; thus, they would naturally be on the road to very different “destinies,” one would assume, as the speaker seems to do.  The speaker then paints a fantastic image wherein a pair of angels look with surprise, “On one another, as they strike athwart / / Their wings in passing.” 

    This unusual pair of lovers possesses very different guardian angels, and those angels find themselves taken aback that such a couple with very differing stations in life should come together. Even more remarkable is that they seem to begin to flourish as they engaging in their new relationship.  The angels’ wings begin fluttering, as they questioningly peer upon the unlikely couple.

    Second Quatrain:  A Guest of Royalty

    Their wings in passing. Thou, bethink thee, art
    A guest for queens to social pageantries,
    With gages from a hundred brighter eyes
    Than tears even can make mine, to play thy part

    The speaker reports that her new belovèd has often been the guest of royalty at their social events—something this speaker could never have accomplished. The speaker is only a shy and retiring individual; she thus offers the contrast between her own social station and skills to that of one who has shined so brightly as to attract the acceptance into the company of kings and queens.

    The speaker assumes that the folks he surely meets at the spectacular affairs of royalty no doubt look at him with “a hundred brighter eyes” than her own.   Even her tears cannot be enough to render her eyes as bright as what he must experience at such high level social affairs.

    First Tercet:  Her Lowly Self

    Of chief musician. What hast thou to do
    With looking from the lattice-lights at me,
    A poor, tired, wandering singer, singing through

    The speaker then contends that unlike her lowly self, her new found love has played the role of “chief musician” at those gatherings of royalty.  She, therefore, must question the notion that he would even bother to give her a second thought, after encountering the glamor and glitz of upper class events. 

    The speaker then puts the question to her romantic partner in order to become informed as to why one such as he would be “looking from the lattice-lights” at one such as herself. 

    The speaker wants to know why one who can so easily attract and associate with royalty can at the same time seem to be like a commoner, as he “lean[s] up a cypress tree,” while peering up at her through her shaded-window.

    She seems to harbor a suspicion that her new relationship might be based on some frivolous curiosity instead of genuine interest and affection. Thus, she continues to muse and examines all aspects of this new liaison, until she feels comfortable in allowing herself to enjoy the relationship.

    Second Tercet:  A Precious Oil

    The dark, and leaning up a cypress tree?
    The chrism is on thine head,—on mine, the dew,—
    And Death must dig the level where these agree.

    Finally, the speaker declaims that her loved one sustains  “chrism” on his head, but she possesses only “dew.” The precious oil coming together with only plain dew boggles her mind; thus, she evokes the image, “Death must dig the level where these agree.”   

    On the earthly plane and in a definitely class based society, the speaker cannot reconcile the differences between herself and her beloved.  She therefore suggests that she will just allow “Death” to establish the meaning and purpose of this seemingly bizarre, but happy, occurrence.

  • Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 5  “I lift my heavy heart up solemnly”

    Image: Elizabeth Barrett Browning – NPG, London

    Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 5 from Sonnets from the Portuguese focuses on the speaker’s lack of confidence that her budding relationship will continue to grow.

    Introduction with Text of Sonnet 5 “I lift my heavy heart up solemnly”

    The speaker’s lack of confidence in her own value as a person and poet makes her doubt that  budding relationship will continue to blossom.  

    Her little dramas continue to exude her lack of self esteem, while she also makes it known the she holds her beloved in the highest regard.  Likely she feels unworthy of such an accomplished individual.

    Sonnet 5 “I lift my heavy heart up solemnly”

    I lift my heavy heart up solemnly,
    As once Electra her sepulchral urn,
    And, looking in thine eyes, I overturn
    The ashes at thy feet. Behold and see
    What a great heap of grief lay hid in me,
    And how the red wild sparkles dimly burn
    Through the ashen greyness. If thy foot in scorn
    Could tread them out to darkness utterly,
    It might be well perhaps. But if instead
    Thou wait beside me for the wind to blow
    The grey dust up,… those laurels on thine head,
    O My beloved, will not shield thee so,
    That none of all the fires shall scorch and shred
    The hair beneath. Stand further off then! Go.

    Reading  

    Commentary on Sonnet 5  “I lift my heavy heart up solemnly”

    The speaker in sonnet 5 focuses on her lack of confidence that her budding relationship will continue to grow.

    First Quatrain:  Dramatic Ashes

    I lift my heavy heart up solemnly,
    As once Electra her sepulchral urn,
    And, looking in thine eyes, I overturn
    The ashes at thy feet. Behold and see

    In the first quatrain of Sonnet 5 from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnets from the Portuguese, the speaker likens her heart to the urn held by Electra, who thought she was holding the ashes of her dead brother Orestes in Sophocles’ tragic Greek play, Electra. The speaker is raising the “sepulchral urn” of her heart to her beloved, and then suddenly, she spills the ashes at his feet. She commands him to look at those ashes.

    The speaker has established in her opening sonnets that not only is she but a humble poet shielded from the eyes of society, but she is also one who has suffered greatly from physical maladies as well as mental anguish.  She has suffered thinking that she may never have the opportunity to love and be loved.

    Second Quatrain:  Dropping Grief

    What a great heap of grief lay hid in me,
    And how the red wild sparkles dimly burn
    Through the ashen greyness. If thy foot in scorn
    Could tread them out to darkness utterly

    The speaker continues the metaphor of her heart as filled with ashes by commanding her beloved to look and see, “What a great heap of grief lay hid in me.” She metaphorically compares the ashes held within the urn of her heart to her grief.

    Now she has dropped those ashes of grief at the feet of her beloved. But she notices that there seem to be some live coals in the heap of ashes; her grief is still burning “through the ashen greyness.”  She speculates that if her beloved could stomp out the remaining burning coals of her grief, that might be all well and good.

    First Tercet:  Burning Coals of Grief

    It might be well perhaps. But if instead
    Thou wait beside me for the wind to blow
    The grey dust up,… those laurels on thine head,

    If, however, he does not tread on those burning coals of grief and merely remains still beside her, the wind will stir up those ashes, and they may land on the head of the beloved, a head that is garlanded with laurels.

    It will be remembered that the speaker has, in the two preceding sonnets, made it clear that her beloved has prestige and the attention of royalty. Thus, he is as one who is declared a winner with the reward of laurels.

    Second Tercet:  In the Throes of Sorrow

    O My beloved, will not shield thee so,
    That none of all the fires shall scorch and shred
    The hair beneath. Stand further off then! Go.

    The speaker avers that even those laurels will not be able to protect his hair from being singed, once the wind has blown those live coals upon his head. She therefore bids him, “Stand farther off then! go.”

    In the throes of incredible sorrow, the speaker is awakening slowly to the possibility that she can be loved by someone whom she deems her superior in every way. Her head is bare, not garlanded with laurels as is his.

    She must give him leave to forsake her because she believes that he will do so after he fully comprehends who she really is.   Although she, of course, hopes he will protest and remain beside her, she does not want to deceive herself, falsely believing that he will, in fact, remain with her.