Friday, January 22, 2021

“How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

 

“How Do I Love Thee?”


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 every day'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 from 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.




Enjoy “How Do I Love Thee?” with beautiful music.


Poem Video👇

https://youtu.be/frW5DN4VbNk




Who wrote the poem “How Do I Love Thee?” 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (March 6, 1806 June 29, 1861)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet of the Victorian era, famous in England and the U.S. during her lifetime. She was the eldest of 12 children and wrote poetry from 11. She was an avid reader and writer, and Shakespeare was her favorite. From 15, she suffered from frail health due to intense head and spinal pain and lung problems throughout her life. After her 1844 volume "Poems" had a great success, Robert Browning, an English poet and playwright, was inspired to write to her, praising her work. The two met in 1845, fell in love, and soon got married. Their special bond had an important influence on their respective subsequent writings. Her work also had a great influence on famous contemporary writers such as the American poets Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson.



“How Do I Love Thee?” explanation.

The poem was originally published as "number 43" out of a collection of 44 love sonnets, "Sonnets from the Portuguese." Elizabeth was initially reluctant to publish the poems because they were too personal. But her husband Robert Browning urged her to publish them, insisting that they were the best sequence of English sonnets since Shakespeare. For some privacy, she published them as translations of foreign sonnets, particularly Portuguese, probably because of Robert's nickname for her: "my little Portuguese."

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