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Sonnet 43. By Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Born March 6, 1806 in Durham, England. Died June 29, 1861. Sonnet 43.
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Sonnet 43 By Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning • Born March 6, 1806 in Durham, England. • Died June 29, 1861
Sonnet 43 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 I love thee to the level of everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's 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.
Explanation • "Sonnet 43" expresses the poet’s intense love for her husband-to-be, Robert Browning. • Her love for him is so intense that that it rises to the spiritual level (Lines 3 and 4). • She loves him freely, without intimidation; she loves him purely, without expectation of personal gain. She even loves him with an intensity of the suffering (passion: Line 9) resembling that of Christ on the cross, and she loves him in the way that she loved saints as a child. • She expects to continue to love him after death.
Quote Interpretation I love you enough to meet all of your simple needs during the day (sun) and even during the night (candle-light) She loves him with an intensity equal to that experienced during suffering or mourning; I love you with the blind faith of a child • I love thee to the level of everyday's most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. • I love thee with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
My Thoughts • I believe the meaning is through her amplification of love and how much she loves her husband, who is also a poet. In her writing she wants the reader to feel how she feels and she tries to show the reader that true love is the most beautiful thing in the world and should be cherished by those who feel it.