Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Poet of Love and Life - Essay Sample

Introduction

Elizabeth Barret Browning was an English poet born on 6th March 1806. She was the firstborn of twelve children, and her love for poetry began at the age of eleven. However, when she turned fifteen, she became sick and suffered from severe head, spinal, and lung problems. The illness she suffered affected her for the rest of her life. Sonnets from the Portuguese, written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, is a collection of love sonnets that she wrote dedicating them to her husband. There are forty-four sonnets who speak of her deep and boundless love between her and her husband. Therefore, Sonnet from the Portuguese is a collection of poems that describe the deep and profound love of a woman to her lover using different stylistic devices and themes which express the notion of true love.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The Sonnets from the Portuguese bring together the voice of a lady and a poet and makes them one. The sonnets not only relate to the courtship between a lady and a man but also relates to the transformation of a lady into a poet. The title Sonnets from the Portuguese was used by Elizabeth was inspired by the name her husband called her “my little Portuguese”( Browning 10). It was like a pet name for her.

The themes expressed in the poem include the following. Firstly, there is the theme of romantic and spiritual love. The theme is expressed when she says, “How do I love thee?” (line 1) she further writes that true love is long-lasting and eternal. Additionally, she evokes her religious faith often. Elizabeth relates her love for her husband to a religious or spiritual feeling. She expresses that her love for her husband might be as powerful as her love for God. While Elizabeth acknowledges the strength of her romantic feelings towards her husband, she wishes that both of them will eventually transcend their earthly lives and go to heaven together where their love will be “better after death” ( line 14). Thus, romantic love for Elizabeth is closely linked to her love for God. The poem depicts that true love is eternal because it surpasses space-time and death. In the first lines of the poem, Elizabeth expresses spiritual terminologies. For instance, she says, “ I love thee to the depth breadth and height (line 2) and “My soul can reach” (line 3). It means that her soul is filled with love; she loves Browning and love for Elizabeth to engage both her body and soul. She continues by saying, “For the ends of being and ideal grace” (line 4). The end means her goals for existence, which is attaining ideal grace, and grace is a gift from God. Therefore, if love gives her grace, then it brings her closer to God.

Additionally, Elizabeth writes, “I love thee with the passion put to use” (line 9) “ In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith” (line 10). Her childhood faith can be interpreted as Christianity, which she was raised. She further continues by saying, “ with my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,” meaning that maybe Elizabeth had lost faith; however, love restored her faith in God.

Secondly, the theme of the reason is expressed by Elizabeth in different ways while expressing her love for Browning. In her opening, she asks the question, “ How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”. (line 1) therefore, she attempts to justify love in rational terms. Therefore, by expressing her desire to “count the ways,” she suggests that the love she feels for her lover can be explained on an intellectual level.

On the other hand, Elizabeth explains that love is something more profound, spiritual, and dictated by fate. Therefore, she admits that love is not a rational feeling and cannot be described. In the poem, Elizabeth “counts the ways” she loves her lover, and in the course of the poem, she names seven ways. It implies that love can be measured and counted. More specifically, she expresses that her love for her partner is reasoned and rational because it is founded on the daily actions of life. For instance, she says, “I love thee to the level of every day’s” ( line 5). It means that love exists in daily mutual bonds of care.

Thirdly, the theme of choice and freedom is expressed when Elizabeth describes love as a free choice basing her admiration for Browning’s qualities. Elizabeth did not have many choices growing up because of her sickness; she lived at home under her dominant and controlling father. Therefore the poem describes a high value for choice and freedom as a vital basis for romantic values. For Elizabeth, love was not only a source of joy or spiritual fulfillment, but it was a means of achieving freedom within constraining circumstances.

Additionally, Elizabeth says, “ I love thee freely, as men strive for the right”(line 7). It means that her love was not coerced or influenced by anybody, but it came out of her own free will. Also, by comparing her love to an effort to “Strive for the right” (line 7), Elizabeth associates her love to a wider set of moral values and goals. Thus, her love empowers her and provides her with an opportunity to make her own decisions about life rather than depending on somebody else. Moreover, the poem is written in the first person, and this gives the speaker authority to reinforce the theme of freedom. She says, ‘Let me count the ways”, these words put here in control of the poem’s narrative. The speaker often uses the pronouns “I” and “me,” thus asserting the speaker’s voice and feelings in the poem.

Also, Elizabeth expresses her love for her husband as a free choice during her adulthood, as compared to her lack of choice during her childhood when she was told what and how to worship. For instance, she says that she transferred her “passion” from her “childhood faith” – the religion she was taught as a child- and put (it) to use in her love for her partner. Elizabeth admits that she seemed to lose her love for her lost saints. It is evident when she says, “ I love thee with a love I seem to lose” (line 11) and “ With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath” (line 12)( Van Remoortel 250). Therefore, the new love the speaker found made her faith more powerful because it was of her own free will.

The speaker has used various stylistic devices in the poem. Firstly, the speaker has used Assonance. Assonance reinforces connections between words and also highlight the literal meanings of the lines. For example, lines 3-4, the speaker repeatedly uses the long /e/ sound.

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

Thus, the two lines provide the impression of poetic harmony and unity. The unity can be explained in terms of the speaker’s strong connection with her husband and her faith. Additionally, the union between Elizabeth’s “soul,” which she refers to as “ideal grace,” is a religious term that means oneness with God.

The poem also uses symbolism in different ways. In line 6, the speaker uses sun and candlelight to refers to the love she has for her husband.

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

Literary, the sun refers to daylight, while candle light gives the light in the evening when there was no electricity and artificial light. Therefore, sunlight and candlelight are used symbolically to explain Elizabeth’s love for her husband at all times during the daytime and night. Thus, the symbols emphasize that true love is constant, unconditional, and always present.

The poem also uses rhyme in the following ways. At the beginning of the sonnet, the rhymes are regular. For instance, “Height” (line 2) and “sight” ( line 3) as well as “grace” (line 4) and day’s (line 5). These matching sounds provide a sense of symmetry in the poem. Therefore, the speaker has used rhyme schemes to emphasize unity and wholeness, thus providing a sonic match for the poem’s ideal theme of true love as a perfect understanding and harmony.

Conclusion

In summary, the poem is a description of love shared between two individuals. Elizabeth, who did not expect to find love because of her age and illness, was given a chance of love by her husband. Brownings loved her despite her shortcomings. It made her change her view of the world from desolate to a happy place because of how her husband made her feel. Therefore, people should never give up on life because of the shortcomings but rather be hopeful because circumstances change.

Works Cited

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Sonnets from the Portuguese. BoD–Books on Demand, 2019.

Van Remoortel, Marianne. "(Re) gendering Petrarch: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's" Sonnets from the Portuguese"." Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature 25.2 (2006): 247-266.