Elizabeth Barrett Browning Research Paper

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: “My Heart and I”

Biographical Information: Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6, 1806, in Durham, England and died on June 29, 1861, in Florence, Italy (Biography.com Editors). When Barrett Browning was fifteen years old, she injured her spine while saddling her pony, and when she was twenty-two, a blood vessel in her chest broke, and she was left weak and with a chronic cough, so after her mother passed away, her father moved the family to Sidmouth, England (“Elizabeth Barrett Browning”). Later, they relocated to London, and after a courtship beginning in 1845 which consisted of many letters sent back and forth, Barrett Browning married Robert Browning, also a poet, and the couple had one son, Robert

“Aurora Leigh,” which was more of a narrative poem, was inspired by Barrett Browning’s passion and concern for women’s rights, socialism, industrialization, and urban life (Avery). Growing up, her family was deeply religious, and many elements of Christianity can be seen in her works, especially “The Seraphim and Other Poems” (“Elizabeth Barrett Browning”). In addition to human rights and religion, love is a common theme in her works, and one of her most famous volumes, “Sonnets From the Portuguese” is filled with poems inspired by her loving courtship and marriage with Robert Browning (Biography.com Editors). One of her best-known love poems is “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways” (Biography.com Editors). Barrett Browning also authored many poems inspired by Italian politics, because while living in Italy, the turbulent political and social issues of the time sparked the poet’s interest and caused her to publish poems such as “Casa Guidi Windows” (Biography.com Editors).

While Barrett Browning published many poems during her lifetime, the most well-known are “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways,” which is featured in “Sonnets from the Portuguese,” as well as “Aurora Leigh,” “Casa Guidi Windows,” “The

She often repeats the word “tired” (l.1,7,8,14,15,22,26,28,29,36,42) which adds to the more depressing part of the connotation and theme since it puts an emphasis on how exhausted the speaker is by her grief and longing for her lost loved one. As well as repeating the word “tired” (l.1,7,8,14,15,22,26,28,29,36,42) to achieve the theme, Barrett Browning also uses words with darker connotations as well as words with happier connotations. She uses words such as “love” (l.26), “life” (l.6), and “happy” (l.33) which all have warmer connotations to balance out words such as “knife” (l.5), “blood” (l.10), and “tears” (l.20) which all have darker, depressing connotations to achieve the bittersweet connotation and theme of the