English Literature Notes - Std.

10
If Thou Must Love Me (Sonnet 14)
Sonnets from the Portuguese
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Ref.1. “If thou must love me, let it be for nought

Except for love’s sake only. Do not say
‘I love her for her smile – her look – her way
Of speaking gently, - for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day’ – ”

Q.1. Who is the speaker? Who is the extract above addressed to and why?
Ans. The speaker is Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
The extract is addressed to her lover, Robert Browning as she wishes that he would love
her with genuine and unconditional love.

Q.2. Except what, does Elizabeth Browning ask her lover not to love her for? How does she truly
want him to love her?
Ans. Elizabeth asks her love not to love her for the sake of apparent love.
Instead of superficially loving her, she asks him to love her with a genuine
unconditional love.

Q.3. What does Elizabeth tell Robert not to say? Why?

Ans. Elizabeth tells Robert not to say that he loves her for her smile nor for her looks. She also
tells him not to love her for the way she speaks or her pleasant voice.
She does not want to be loved for any physical characteristics. This is because she knows
that her appearance and good looks will fade with the passage of time.

Q.4. Explain the following lines:

a) ‘…..for a trick of thought

That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day’

In these lines Elizabeth reveals that the attention one is shown based on their looks, their smile
or their way of speaking is unwelcome since such things change from day to day with the mood
of each partner. Elizabeth wonders if her smile pleases him one day, what would happen if she
had no smile for him on another day? She feels that the suitor might fall victim to a ‘trick of
thought’ i.e. a particular way of thinking which may mislead a person. She asks Robert not to
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love her for the qualities which certainly give him a sense of comfort on a particular day. She
points out that there is so much more to love that just what appears at face value.

Ref.2. “For these things in themselves, Beloved, may

Be changed, or change for thee, - and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so.”

Q.1. What ‘things’ does the poet refer to? Who does ‘Beloved’ address?
Ans. The poet refers to the physical features, behaviour and attitude of a person. In particular a
person’s looks, a smile or someone’s way of talking. She refuses to be loved for qualities that
may fade in their appeal as his love would diminish when her superficial qualities fade away.
She addresses her lover, Robert Browning as ‘Beloved’.

Q.2. According to the poet, how can ‘these things’ change? Is this change planned?
Ans. According to the poet ‘these things’ (physical attributes) will change with the passage
of time.
This change isn’t planned. The change may occur even if the poet does not intend to do so.
It could also occur if her lover’s appreciation of things changes with time.

Q.3. Explain the phrase ‘- and love, so wrought, may be unwrought so.’
Ans. The poet confesses that love which is elaborately made or fashioned (wrought) based on
superficiality and physical traits, however endearing they may be, will be easily destroyed
(unwrought).

Ref.3. “……………Neither love me for

Thine own dear pity’s weeping my cheeks dry, -
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!”

Q.1. What else does Elizabeth Browning not wish to not be loved for? Why does she say so
Ans. Elizabeth Browning neither wishes to be loved out of pity. She refuses to be pitied for her
shedding of tears.
She says so as she knows she ‘might forget to weep; and since there will be no more tears
to be wiped off from her cheeks, she may not be able to produce the same pity for her in
her man. This would lead him to stop loving her and he may fall out of love with her.

Q.2. Why has the poet used the word ‘creature’? Describe the effect she wants to bring about in the
poem by using this particular word.
Ans. The poet uses the term ‘creature’ instead of using the word ‘herself’. She compares herself
to a creature and in doing so, she is alluding (referring) to something similar to an animal
(references could be to that of a whimpering dog or a flopping baby bird) which instantly
invokes human pity for the ‘creature’.
By using this word, the poet emphasizes that she doesn’t want to be treated as a lesser
human being. She wants to say that she is a thinking woman who deserves the same love
and respect as any other human being.

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Q.3. What is be the cause of the poet not shedding any more tears?
Ans. The poet was battling a life-long illness which caused her to feel intense head and spinal
pain with a loss of mobility as well. Elizabeth says that she might forget the pain she is
experiencing (due to her illness) and thus not shed any tears after enjoying the comfort of her
lover’s company for a long time (‘thy comfort long’). She can see herself losing her melancholy
after enjoying his company and this makes her hopeful to continue enjoying this relief that
provides her.

Q.4. What may be the result of her not weeping anymore?

Ans. Elizabeth Browning is worried that Robert Browning may love her out of pity.
Since she might forget to weep due to the effect he has on her, she is afraid that he would stop
loving her as he may not have a genuine reason to love her anymore.
Hence if he loved out of pity, she would ‘lose (his) love thereby’.

Ref.4. “But love me for love’s sake, that evermore

Thou mayst love on, through love’s eternity.”

Q.1. What repetition does the poet make in the last two lines of the poem?
Ans. The poet reiterated how she wants to be loved for ‘love’s sake’ only. This is so that she will
forever be loved, no matter what fades away over time. According to her his love should be
eternal beyond all worldly pleasures as the love based on external appearances is not true love.

Q.2 How has Elizabeth Browning personified love in her poem?

Ans. Personification, being a figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstract ideas are
endowed with human qualities; The poet has used personification to depict love by saying
‘love’s sake’ and ‘love’s eternity’. Love in the literal sense is an abstract idea and therefore
cannot have a time frame or a possession.

Q.3. Since the poet has expressed the way she wants her lover to love her, what impression do we,
the readers get about Robert Browning?
Ans. Her expression of how Robert should truly love her, suggests that his apparent affection
towards her wasn’t strong enough. The reason for his lack of affection could be that she was
demanding too much from him according to her own understanding of what love is.

Q4. What kind of love has Elizabeth Browning presented to the readers in her poem?
Ans. Elizabeth Browning presents an eternal love which is solely based on loving someone for
love’s sake only. She depicts how unconditional love should be shared between two people who
genuinely care for each other. This kind of love has an eternal quality that we should value for
its own sake.
The word ‘love’ has been repeated not merely to praise the romantic view about it but it
has focused more highly on a debate about what love should be. In the poem, love is more
concerned with the everlasting nature of itself rather than its superficial passing phase.

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