SCHEME FOR ANALYZING POETRY

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

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

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 for Praise.

I love thee with the 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.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a famous British poet who created sonnet sequences linked by common themes. She followed Petrarchan model of writing sonnets, of which Sonnet 43 is a marvelous example.

Thus, the genre of the poetic text is Petrarchan sonnet (which is seen from the structure of the verse: 8+6 lines, pattern of rhyming). Its theme may be defined as “Immortality of real love as a divine gift”. To support this theme it is possible to bring such examples of key words: depth, breadth, height, soul, light, smiles, tears, passion.

Concepts are closely connected with key words and are more general: being, love, faith, immortality, grace, praise, right, life, death

According to its composition, the verse is written in iambic pentameter (a 2-syllable foot with the 2^nd syllable stressed; 5 stressed syllables in a line), octave + sestet, turn in lines 13-14 (a decisive change of ideas, summarizing, reinforcing the main idea)

The rhyme pattern is typical for a Petrarchan sonnet: abba abba cdcdcd (framed + crossed, masculine, mostly full). Masculine rhyme is the one with the last syllable in the line stressed.

Imagery, symbols, figures of speech add significantly to understanding the poem and creating an aesthetic impression. I can name such examples (if possible give their function in the text, as you see it):

- thee – poetic usage of a word;

- depth, breadth and height – figurative expression of love’s merit (image of omnipresence and eternity)

- sun and candle-light = symbolize day and night; ideal Grace, old griefs, childhood’s faith – epithets,

- ends of Being and Grace Vs everyday’s most quiet need – contrast;

- I love thee freely, I love thee purely – parallel construction,

- I love thee with a love – play on words;

- as men strive for Right, as they turn from Praise – a symbolic simile for ‘free’ and ‘pure’,

- breath, smiles, tears of all my life – hyperbole,

- shall love thee after death – image of immortality, life is ended, but love goes on.

The tone of the verse is passionate, inspired, and lofty. Its message can be described as the following: “Nothing can hinder real love which overcomes difficulties, runs through time and survives death”.

Interpretation: The author gives a detailed and metaphorical description of how one can love and in what ways real love is expressed. She states the omnipotence of divine love which has no limits neither in distance nor in time. The feeling of the lyrical hero occupies all his soul “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach”. Love is free, pure and passionate, it ousts all other impressions from one’s life and survives death which is no obstacle for it: “I shall but love thee better after death”. In her poem Elizabeth Browning compares love to a divine gift which unites human souls with God’s consent and blessing.

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 1138