Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning By Kailin Yu, Alexandra Lu, Brendan Lin, and Anim Abdullah

Biography • Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet who was born in 1806. She had 11 siblings and she was the oldest out of them. Her father, Edward Barrett Moulton Barrett, was a slave plantation owner in Jamaica. Her father home schooled her for her childhood. She had read numerous great pieces of literature before the age of 10 that includes literature by Shakespeare among others.

Biography cont. • She wrote her first poem at the age of 12, which consisted of four books of rhyming couplets. At the age of 14, she had developed a lung ailment that would be with her until she died. At the age of 15, she also had a spinal injury while riding a pony. Her injuries, however, did not set her back. She continued her education and she achieved several accomplishments such as learning Hebrew and studying Greek culture. She was also a reader of the Bible.

Biography cont. • She met her husband, Robert Browning, when he wrote her a letter after she had wrote about him in one of her poems. Robert was very influential to Elizabeth’s work. Her father has despised the marriage and never spoke to her again. The two moved to Florence, Italy where they had 1 son. She died on June 29, 1861 in Florence at the age of 55.

Historical/Social Background • Elizabeth Barrett Browning grew up during the time of slavery. She always opposed slavery and she wrote The Seraphim and other poems in 1838 that included some of her views. Also, she expressed sympathy for Italy’s struggle for unification and the Austrian oppression of the Italians. She was an enthusiastic Christian. Her views are expressed in some of her poems. Some of her views, such as opposition to slavery, lowered her popularity among people.

Poem: Life and Love Drew his smile across her folded Eyelids, as the swallow dips; Breathed as finely as the cold did Through the locking of her lips. So, when Life looked upward, being Warmed and breathed on from above, What sight could she have for seeing, Evermore,……….but only Love? FAST this Life of mine was dying, Blind already and calm as death, Snowflakes on her bosom lying Scarcely heaving with her breath. Love came by, and having known her In a dream of fabled lands, Gently stooped, and laid upon her Mystic chrism of holy lands;

Explanation • One of the poems describes how “Life” (A woman) was dying, and was then embraced by Love (A man). At first, Life knew that she would die, being blind, she naturally accepted it. But then, Love came, because he knew that she was a good person of dreams. • “Love” gave “Life” chrism, holy liquid to be baptized, and live anew. Love then kisses Life’s eyelids and her lips. Life then opens her eyes, cured of her blindness, and sees Love. • When life is ready to die (Due to recurring events), love will be there to save it, because one cannot live life without obtaining love, or giving it.

Explanation cont. • Literary Elements used: • Allegory is used is used in this poem to tell the story of life and love, and how they are intertwined. • Hyperbole is used to exaggerate Life looking upward. It is also used to exaggerate Love coming and saving Life. • Personification is used to give Love and Life human like characteristics, such as “he”, and “she”, and dying, coming, kissing, etc. • Rhyme is used; dying/lying, death/breath, dips/lips. • Symbolism is used to give meaning to chrism. Chrism is normally used in churches to baptize. In this case, Life is being born again through the use of chrism.

Analysis • “Life and Love” is a poem that contains four stanzas with four verses to each stanza. Each line contains between 7 and 8 syllables. • The poem has a rhyme scheme of a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-h-g-h. Examples include “dying” and “lying” (lines 1 and 3), “lands” and “hands” (lines 6 and 8), and “above” and “Love” (lines 14 and 16). • The tone of the poem is dramatic and the mood is peaceful. There is not much action, only the character Love approaching then kissing the woman while she is still. The fourth line, “Scarcely heaving with her breath,” creates the illusion of the sound of soft breathing. The reader feels a chill from the words “death,”“snowflakes,” and “cold”.

Poem: HOW do I love thee? I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with childhood faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, -I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! –and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. HOW do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 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. I love thee to the level of everyday’s Most quiet need, by sum and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

Explanation • The poem is trying to say that the person would give everything and anything that they have to love. Literary Elements Used: • Personification is used in this poem to give inanimate objects human like characteristics. “My soul can reach when feeling out of sight”. • Hyperbole is used to show exaggeration; “I shall but love thee better after death”. • Lyric is used, the person is conveying their deep emotions of love towards another person. • Sonnet is used in the poem. There are 14 lines, and follows rhyme scheme.

Comparison • The two poems both represent the idea of love. But, the first poem describes love as something that can save your life. In the second poem, it describes love as something that can be aided upon by other factors, such as the depth of breath and height, childhood faith, smiles, tears, and after death. • Both poems are designed to express opposing ideas, because the author (Emily Browning) wants to show that you can think of love in two different ways. The second poem sounds as if love can be thrown around, but in the first poem, it describes just how much you really need love. If love was really that important, then you wouldn’t need anything else to back it up.

Analysis • “How Do I Love Thee?”, also known as “Sonnet 43” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, is written in the form of an Italian (Petrarchan) sonnet. It contains 14 lines and is divided into an octave (the first 8 lines) and a sestet (the last 6 lines). • The octave typically has a rhyme scheme of a-b-b-a-a-b-b-a while the sestet has a rhyme scheme of c-d-c-d-c-d. Browning’s sonnet follows the same pattern. Examples include “height” and “sight” (lines 2 and 3), “day’s” and “praise” (lines 5 and 8), and “lose” and “choose” (lines 11 and 13). • The sonnet is written in iambic pentameter, meaning that there are “ten syllables, or five feet, per line with five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables” (Cummings, “Sonnet 43: A Study Guide”). This can be shown in the second and third lines: • I LOVE the TO the DEPTH and BREADTH and HEIGHT • My SOUL can REACH, when FEEL-ing OUT of SIGHT.

Significance • We learn about these “Love” poems because it gives us a sense of how people feel during the course of their life. I was drawn to these poems because I wanted to understand how another person felt about love by writing in the form of poetry. These poems are important to understanding poetry because it is a structural template by using rhymes, hyberbole, personification, sonnet, etc.

Analysis cont. Browning uses a few poetic devices to create meaning in her sonnet. She uses anaphora, or the repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of word groups occurring one after the other. To accentuate her love as well as support the theme, Browning repeatedly says “I love thee” in lines 15, 17 to 19, and 21. I love thee to the level of every day's... I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use... I love thee with a love I seemed to lose She also uses alliteration to also reinforce meaning and in this case, the meaning of her love. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use (lines 8 and 9) ... I love thee with a love I seemed to lose (line 11) Browning creates a deep, yet loving tone to her sonnet, able to describe the abstract feelings of love. The last two lines have a more serious tone, however, describing how love can overcome anything -- even death.

Poem by Alexandra Lu What is love? So much more than four letters. Passion, devotion, desire for their soul, Love is something that bands two as a whole. When all thoughts are on being together, Love runs deeper than the oceans and flies Far beyond the blazing stars up in space. Love is a being with no need to race, It envelops the heart and never dies.

Poem by Brendan Lin On the cold hard pavement The sound goes crack We're in perfect alignment when I hit you back You go flying so small and blue making others crying That's handball for you.

Poem by Anim Abdullah What is a book? Does it make you feel sad, Like you lost a family member? Does it explode with surprises, Like finding out you won the lottery? Or does it make you feel happy, Like getting the puppy you always wanted? Or is it entertaining, Like the worlds best magic show Is it just boring, Like a gloomy gray day? Or is it all of these in one book?

Poem By Kailin Yu • There’s black and white • There’s peace and war • We thrive beneath the sun • But without dark, there is no light • We love, yet we hate • We protect, yet we persecute • Two sides of the same coin • One cannot be without the other • How can we know if we are good • If there is no evil?

Bibliography • Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, and Robert Browning. "Sonnets from the Portuguese." The Love Poems of Elizabeth and Robert Browning. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1994. 3+. Print. 31 May 2013. • Mermin, Dorothy. "The Female Poet and the Embarrassed Reader: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets From the Portuguese." English Literary History 48.2 (1981): 351-67. JSTOR. Web. 3 June 2013. • Elizabeth Barrett Browning." - Poets.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 June 2013. • Lorcher, Trent. "An Analysis of "How Do I Love Thee" by Elizabeth Barret Browning: One of the World's Most Famous Love Poems." Bright Hub Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2013. • "Three Types of Sonnet." Academic Writing in British English. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 June 2013. • Cummings, Michael J. "Cummings Study Guide." Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43: Analysis. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 June 2013.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning