Sonnet 43 By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

In the early 1800s, the world was being introduced to a new type of writing that strayed from the scientific ideals of the Enlightenment Era and entered the world of Romance. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a highly influential person in this movement. She led a life full of oppression, which had an extreme impact on her writings. Browning’s life experiences through the adversity that she faced, influenced her career by providing inspiration for her works. Initially, Elizabeth Barrett Browning‘s early years were some of the most taxing overall. She was born in March, 1806 in Durham, England and was the eldest child to her eleven siblings (“Elizabeth Barrett Browning”). Although her family’s main income was based out of a sugar plantation in

Sonnet 43 is also known as “How Do I Love Thee?” This colloquial title derives from the rhetorical question and provides a basis for what the reader should expect the poem to be centered around. Also, it creates some ambiguity because the “thee” spoken about is unnamed. Browning repeats “I love thee..” several times in this poem which aids in speeding up the rhythm. In addition to the speed, this anaphora reiterates how deep her love is. On line five and six, Browning states “I love thee to the level of every day’s/ Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. (“Sonnet 43”)” This analogy depicts Browning’s desire that she has to love her beloved. The first line represents how in everyday, there are moments of needed silence and how important these short moments are. Her love for him is just as important and strong as the silence during the day. Also, the second portion of the poem shows the burning passion she has for this man, just as the sun and candles burn (Cummings). Furthermore, Browning states in the final three lines of this sonnet “I love thee with the breath,/ Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,/I shall but love thee better after death.” This final statement exemplifies Browning’s complete and all-consuming love for her beloved. Her love also extends beyond this present life and into Eternity (Cummings). She wishes that their love is immortal and

This poem can be related to Browning’s illnesses throughout her life as well as an example of her feministic and transcendentalist ideals. The subject of the poem, “Rose” is capitalized thus making the whole poem an apostrophe (Horn). Making “Rose” a proper noun suggest this is representing the anthropocentric society one lives in. Browning’s basis for this comparison stems from the essential role that the rose possesses, as well as the thorns it does too. Humans have a prominent role in nature, but also create a large amount of destruction as well. Furthermore, each stanza contains a reference to a portion of nature that has been affected by human society. For example, in stanza five Browning states “The fly that lit upon thee, To stretch the tendrils of its tiny feet,/ Along thy leaf's pure edges, after heat,---/ If lighting now,---would coldly overrun thee. (“A Dead Rose”)” This allusion and use of symbolism indicates that humans, or Rose, invited the fly, or nature, to trust the society and then created desolation (Horn). This type of symbolism is present in each of the eight stanzas. Browning also changes the time tense throughout the poem, thus creating the shift in the poem. In the initial six stanzas, the verbs are all in the past tense, (ie. lit, used, ect.) whereas in the final two, Browning changes the time tense by using the present verb “doth.”