Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnet 43

Theme:
This is the second last sonnet in the sequence and the best known.
In it the persona/Barrett Browning declares her love for her lover/ Robert in a joyful and
confident way which reveals none of the doubts present in some of the earlier sonnets. For
example, in Sonnet XIII she claimed that it was too dangerous to try to put her love into
words.
Analysis:
The sonnet is simple and artless in comparison to the previous poems. This reflects the
simplicity of her resolution.
The structure of the poem is very straight-forward. She begins dramatically (as usual) with a
rhetorical question: How do I love thee? She then says she will count the ways.
The rest of the poem is a list, expressing her love in different ways.
Traditional syntactical period at the end of the octave, which she hasnt often.
She still reworks the traditional sonnet sequence by transforming gender roles. She utilises
the female voice instead of the traditional male voice.
The language has high modality. She makes a series of definite statements without any
conditions or qualifications.
Six lines begin with I love thee (this type of repetition is known as anaphora), each
introducing a new description of her love.
The poem includes a lot of religious language, which suggests the intensity and spiritual
dimension of her love.
The exclamations in lines 1 and 13 suggest her joy and excitement.
In the first quatrain she compares her love to achieving a religious state of Grace a state of
harmony with, and acceptance by, God usually only achieved in death (the ends of Being).
Grace and Being are abstract nouns
The listing of depth & breadth & height suggests the absolute limits. Grand spatial
metaphor. Statistical/numerical parody of utilitarian discourse and our attempt to measure
love. The language of depth and breadth and height comes from Ephesians 3;17-19.
The three lines also introduce a lot of sound play. In line 2 the words have a th sound.
These breathy syllables soften the line making it difficult to fit into the traditional iambic
pentameter rhythm which shows us that Barratt Browning is still playing with the form. The
breathy syllables could reflect her exuberant state.
In lines 3 and 4 the poet uses assonance repeating long e vowel sounds reach feeling
Being and Idea. This heightens the sense of endlessness which she is trying to convey.

In the second quatrain the imagery is more secular the everyday, suggesting a different
dimension to her love. Her love extends from the simplicity of everyday needs to ideals such
as freedom and purity. The similes as men strive for Right and as they turn from Praise
suggest the unselfishness of her love. Insistent use of anaphora in lines 7 and 8 to affirm her
love. In the second quatrain the imagery is concrete sun and candlelight as opposed to the
abstract imagery of the first quatrain. This again shows that her love knows no bounds. She
also uses antithesis . The sun is natural whilst candlelight is man made, again showing the
limitlessness of her love.
In lines 9 13 she focuses on the intensity and passion of her love. She compares it to the
intensity of her old griefs such as the intensity of extreme sadness and her childhood
faith.
She suggests that children have a much more powerful faith than adults. It can also suggest
the innocence and unquestioning trust children place on things.
I seemed to lose with my lost Saints similarly suggests the innocent, unquestioning religion
of a child which is lost in adulthood. Lost Saint could also refer to her brother.
Lines9-10 emphasises the difficult nature of her grief through the subtle chiasmus of sounds
using an f and s ad then repeating them in the reverse order. griefs and then childhoods
faith.. This reversal highlights the reversal of her sadness to joy.
Lines 11-12 alliteration of l and sibilance of s sound. Increases the volume and reflects
the joyful outpouring of her emotions.
In lines 13- 14 she makes the ultimate hyperbolic statement , as seen through the use of the
superlative ,that if God allows it she will love him even better after she dies than she does
now.
This sonnet is almost a parody of utilitarian discourse and its attempt to count and measure
human happiness.
The tone of the poem ironically includes both emotional idealism and subdued social satire.
Therefore EBB subverts the sonnet form to challenge Victorian social ideals and conventions.