Sonnet #43 (How Do I Love Thee?)

1. Sonnet #43(How Do I Love Thee?) Elizabeth Barrett Browning Taken from the Sonnets From the Portuguese Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

2. Elizabeth Barrett Browning • 1806-1861 • Married Robert Browning • Famous English Poet • “My Last Duchess” • Highly influenced by the English Romantic Poets Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

3. English Romantic Period • 1798-1832 Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

4. William Wordsworth • 1770-1850 • “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey” Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

5. Samuel Taylor Coleridge • 1772-1834 • The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

6. Lord Byron • 1788-1824 • “She Walks in Beauty Like the Night” Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

7. Percy Bysshe Shelley • 1792-1822 • “Ode to the West Wind” Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

8. John Keats • 1795-1821 • “When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be” Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

9. Characteristics of the Romantic Period • Contrast those of the eighteenth century • Stressed reason and judgment • Romantic writers emphasized imagination and emotion • Concerned with the general or universal in experience • Romantic writers were concerned with the particular Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

10. Characteristics of the Romantic Period • Asserted the values of society as a whole • Romantic writers championed the value of the individual human being • Sought to follow and to substantiate authority and the rules derived from authority • Romantic writers strove for freedom Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

11. Characteristics of the Romantic Period • Primary inspiration came from classical Greek and Roman authors • Romantic writers took a revitalized interest in medieval subjects and settings Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

12. Rhetorical Structure • Question—Answer Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

13. Question • “How do I love thee?” (1) Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

14. Answer • “Let me count the ways.” (1) • The speaker identifies 8 ways to express love • Focuses on the evolution of faith • Focuses on the evolution of maturity • The speaker recognizes that life and love will be good and bad Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

15. Answer 1 • I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

16. Answer 2 • I love thee to the level of everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

17. Answer 3 • I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

18. Answer 4 • I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

19. Answer 5 • I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

20. Answer 6 • I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints!--- Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

21. Answer 7 • I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life!--- Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

22. Answer 8 • and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

23. Most SignificantLiterary Devices • Anaphora • Paradox Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

24. Anaphora • Deliberate Repetition • Purpose • Helps to establish tone regarding love • The speaker loves in virtually every way possible Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43

25. Paradox • Paradoxical answers to the question “How do I love thee?” • Love is divine and everyday • Love is childlike and mature • Love has tears and joy • Love exists through life and continues after death Geschke/English IV AP Browning's Sonnet #43