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Shakespeare's use of language
Sonnet 43 analysis elizabeth barrett browning
Poems in the world of poetry that portray relationships
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In Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet number 43, the speaker is asking how he/she loves her/his significant other (1). The remainder of the sonnet, lists the ways the speaker loves him/ her (2-13). The final line of the sonnet even states that the speaker will love him /her even better after his/ her death (14). Browning’s 43rd of 44 poems within the Sonnets from the Portuguese is a sonnet written in iambic pentameter, with a Petrarchan pattern. The speaker asks a rhetorical question, “How do I love thee?” (1), yet answers it, “let me count the ways” (1), I will count the ways the speaker loves his/ her significant other throughout the poem. The first way the speaker loves his/ her significant other is through his/ her entire soul, …show more content…
The second way the speaker loves his/ her significant other is in the little things, in the everyday going about their business things, "to the level of every day’s most quiet need" (5-6). I picture a married couple at the breakfast table drinking their coffee and reading the newspaper, enjoying each other's presence in just knowing they are there as they begin their day, "by sun" (6) and intimate pleasures shared amongst them, "candlelight" (6). The third way the speaker loves his/ her significant other is through the day to day decisions that he / she goes about choosing, "freely" (7). The fourth way the speaker loves his/ her significant other is in matrimony, this makes me believe this couple is married, "purely" (8). The fifth way the speaker loves his/her significant other is ”the passion put to use In my old griefs” (9-10), imagine all of the energy one puts into the feelings of something in one’s past is in the speakers love for their significant other. The sixth way the speaker loves his/her significant other is “with my childhood's faith” (10), similar to the innocence and beauty of a child who holds nothing
...as the day we married.” (p 23) On the surface, all seems well; however if on looks closer one can see a very sad occurrence-taking place. Most couples who have lasted a goodly time together will not answer the question, “Do you love your spouse like the day you married?” Invariably man and wife will reply, “No, I love him/her more than the day we married.” Long married couples become closer. Intimacy grows in the physical as the couple’s love proportionally grows all more. The growth is palpable to the individuals within the marriage. Furthermore, as life’s hardships are over come together, the couple’s love will grow exponentially. Welty understands this yet chooses a different path for the Fletchers. Some place in time, either by Mrs. Fletchers pride or by Mr. Fletcher’s inability to deal with confrontation, the growth of which should have taken place will happen.
Browning’s “Sonnet 43” vividly depicts the human dependency of love. She uses irony to emphasize that love overpowers everything. Browning starts the poem with “How do I love thee” (Browning). Ironically, she answers the very question she presents the reader by describing her love and the extent to which she loves (Kelly 244). The ironic question proposes a challenge to the reader. Browning insinuates how love overpowers so that one may overcome the challenge. People must find the path of love in life to become successful and complete. Also, the diction in “Sonnet 43” supports the idea that love is an all-encompassing force. The line, “if God choose, I shall love thee better after death” means that love is so powerful that even after someone passes away lov...
Written during the Victorian era, the author presents an amatory sequence of sonnets cast against her time to highlight the appreciation of the revitalisation of love and female expression of a male literary form amid an era synonymous with conservatism, repression and rigid moral behaviour and how she overcomes these obstacles. Browning explores the notion of finding such love in a world surrounded by obstacles and disappointment in Sonnet 1, as seen in “I once heard Theocritus had sung/ Of the sweet years, the dear and wished for years/Who each one in a gracious hand appears/ TO bear a gift for mortals, old or young/I mused in his antique tongue...” The quote depicts the author’s search for emotional connection and inner peace as she calls on the muse of Theocritus, whose poetry surrounded that of love and sentiment. It also portrays her initial perception of herself, as it presents Browning as not having the confidence to pursue love, and thereby straying from reality to enter the realm of the imaginative, so as to evade the possible risk of rejection. The quote introduces a sense of hope yet simultaneously as sense of despondency as she calls on a muse of love and emotional connection, yet is unable to perceive one of her own, as seen in “I saw, in
The composer incorporates several biblical allusions throughout the poems in conjunction with the synecdoches for hope and sex to further the relationship between Catholicism and love. In Sonnet XXII, for instance, the object correlative“to drop some golden orb” carries sexual connotations as a spiritual experience. The composer depicts sex as akin to purification or transcending heaven in the allusive metaphor “isolate pure spirits” to further accentuate the Victorian ideal of romantic love as a religious experience. These references coincide with hope as the primary theme and developing force in the sonnets through “silver” as an extended metaphor, manifesting as a “silver answer” in Sonnet I to illustrate the potential of Browning’s love and addressed as a “silver iterance” of the Beloved’s confession to the persona. Love, depicted as a sustaining and transformative force, impacts the composer’s growth shown in her direct, passionate tone in Sonnet XLIII.
When I read Sonnet 43, "How do I love thee? " I was very impressed with it! I have read a lot of things about love, and I do know a lot about love as well. When reading it, I was very intrigued with how much the writer described their love for this person, and the depths they went into describing it as well. It is a true love from what I can read, especially from the lines "I love thee to the depth and breadth and height", "I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
What is your interpretation of love? Giving out roses to a loved one, enjoying family time, or an interest or talent? Every person values a variety of things and many things inspire us. Is love what motivates us the most? Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 29” rejuvenates the sonnet form by offering an alternative view of love using iambic pentameter ending in a rhymed couplet that, at first, sees the poem and its speaker steeped in melancholia, but then shifts in tone to faithful and hopeful for a brighter future in the late stages of the poem.
The speaker says that the beloved wants the speaker to tell them how much the speaker loves them. They want to hear a description of the love in words. The speaker responds to this by saying that she cannot do this. It is not possible for her to find the words, and she will not distance herself from her love enough to be able to describe it. In lines 9 and 10 the speaker says, “Nay, let the silence of my womanhood / Commend my woman-love to thy belief,” meaning that she is only able to feel the feeling of love, and she wishes to express this silently, through actions and feelings, not words. This response suggests that while she does love her beloved, as she says by describing her “woman-love”, she is not yet fully comfortable with the feeling.
Sonnets from the Portuguese are a series of poems expressing the journey that Elizabeth Browning faces along the way of encountering love. This complete set of 44 sonnets, were written in the 1800s during the Victorian age. Unlike its other literary counterparts of this time, the woman plays a dominant role. This is surprising because the male typically is the dominant role and women are usually the hidden force of silence rather than voicing their opinions. The chronicle focuses on the love and devotion that she keeps with her future husband, Robert Browning. Browning encounters various emotions, including death and at first struggles to understand what exactly has come over her. The speaker is a very passionate woman about her husband. Browning is so passionate about her husband to be, that the name Sonnets from the Portuguese derives from the nickname he gave her, “My little Portugee”. The love she has for him is expressed in every sonnet but in a different form. The progression of the sonnets, introduces the irreversible concept of adversity to reach love, passion for your companion and growth before the beginning of a marriage.
In the poem "Sonnet 43", Elizabeth Barrett Browning use literary tools to portray her thoughts on love and its endless possibilities. Her poem is full of figurative language, repetition, and parallelism. In addition, she uses anaphorics to symbolize love and despair. Most people believe love is war, because it always ends on the floor, but with a little love you can go a very long way. Love and admiration is powerful and pure.
The types of love in a poem can be reflected in many ways. One of
loves her secretly, “between the shadow and the soul.” The narrator does not love arrogantly or in vain. His love is precious and personal. Dark things are to be loved pri...
In “Sonnet 43,” Browning wrote a deeply committed poem describing her love for her husband, fellow poet Robert Browning. Here, she writes in a Petrarchan sonnet, traditionally about an unattainable love following the styles of Francesco Petrarca. This may be partly true in Browning’s case; at the time she wrote Sonnets from the Portuguese, Browning was in courtship with Robert and the love had not yet been consummated into marriage. But nevertheless, the sonnet serves as an excellent ...
Everyone is unique not only in how they look and feel but also in how they show love. This essay will examine the different ways love is expressed. To build a healthy, devoted relationship and to grow and maintain that relationship these techniques must all be understood. Thus, a person must be ready to recognize and receive love not just give it. These ways of conveying love can be broken down into five styles, and each will relate primarily to one of these styles. By understanding each of the styles and identifying them in various circumstances, a healthy relationship can be grown and maintained.
In the poem "How do I Love Thee", Elizabeth Barret Browning expresses her everlasting nature of love and its power to overcome all, including death. In the introduction of the poem Line 1 starts off and captures the reader’s attention. It asks the simple question, "How do I Love Thee?" Throughout the rest of the poem repetition occurs. Repetition of how she would love thee is a constant reminder in her poem. However, the reader will quickly realize it is not the quantity of love, but its quality of love; this is what gives the poem its power. For example she says, “I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.” She is expressing how and what she would love with, and after death her love only grows stronger. Metaphors that the poet use spreads throughout the poem expressing the poets love for her significant other.
Shakespeare's sonnets are a romantic and charming series of poems. His use of rhyme and passionate, eloquent language serve to illuminate his strong feelings. These techniques were probably the most fluent way for such a writer as him to express the immeasurable love that he obviously felt for his mysterious lady. Examining the numerous ways Shakespeare found to describe it, the reader believes that this love was undoubtedly lasting and authentic. He often made heart-felt comments about his emotions that could also suit lovers in the present day. Because of this, and the fact that people read them yet, Shakespeare's sonnets are timeless and universal, just like the concept of love itself.