How Do I Love Thee?

(Sonnet 43)
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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.

The poem belongs to Sonnet XLIII from Sonnet from the Portuguese and published in
1850. The poem has one stanza and composed by fourteen lines. Grammatically, combining
each line before full stop and follow basic principal of sentence resulting nine sentences from
the poem. Then if we carefully look into poem, there are also “I love thee” repeated nine
times. The poem can be expressed with fairly sad tone to answer and describe feeling to
someone loved for the most or it is an expression of self questioning and self introspection.
We can notice it from the first line: “How do I love thee?” explained as repeated question
then “Let me count the ways” tells how the person explain the ways. As we can expected to
the next line: “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach,”
explain as the person love is described to measurable unit at maximum capability manifested
to how deep, wide and high the love as far as the person can do. The chosen of measurable
unit as depth, breadth and height emphasizing the person love is true and provable. Then the
person explained further in “when feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal
grace.” but the person’s most loved is dedicated as the final destination, an ideal meaning of
the person’s seek.

The next line: “I love thee to the level of every day’s most quiet need, by sun and
candle-light.” it means the person love is very vital so important and equal with sunlight
which supporting any in the day and candle-light to give a vision in darkness of night.
 The next line: “I love thee freely, as men strive for right.” the person love based on
freedom, own choice and no coercion. Then, loving the person who most loved has sufficient
equality as men struggle for the right which they believe as truth and something worth to
struggle and to protect with their own will.

“I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.” the person’s love is so pure and come from
seed of praise, then it slowly grow and fruiting－fruit of love. “I love thee with the passion
put to use in my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.”

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim, 

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

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