College of Education

Activity:
1. I can make people happy; I can make people cry. I can make people want me, and I can drive
people crazy. What am I?

2. It begins with an L and comes at no cost. Surely without it, our relationship would be lost.

3. When all is lost, I am left; I am the destiny of everyone. I may cause you to become bereft;
some people fear me, and some welcome me.

Background of the Author:

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born March 6, 1806 at Coxhoe Hall, Durham, England.
She was an English poet of the Romantic Movement. The eldest of twelve children—on a
magnificent estate near Ledbury, Herefordshire, England and her father is Edward Barrett
Moulton Barrett. Before she was a teenager, Elizabeth was writing poetry. In her young teenage
year, she suffered intense headaches and spinal discomfort from a cause never really diagnosed.
She spent most of her time indoors, reading and writing.

Elizabeth continued to write, and the high quality of her poetry brought her critical
recognition and some financial success. In her late 30s, Elizabeth was among the best-known and
most highly respected poets in the country. Elizabeth began to write a series of sonnets, among
the most famous in English literary history, celebrating her love for Robert Browning.

The couple moved to Florence, Italy, where they settled into the happy life as writers. In
Italy, her health improved. At age 43, she gave birth to a son, Robert, whom they always called
Pen. Throughout her life, she was an advocate for social justice, opposing slavery and child
labour in “The Cry of the Children”; championing women’s rights, in her verse novel “Aurora
Leigh”; and supporting Italy in its campaign for independence from Austria.
How Do I Love Thee?
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 –1861)

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.

Theme:
 Love
 Loyalty
 Relationship
 Death

Comprehensive Discussion:

How do I love thee is a sonnet piece composed with 14 lines by Elizabeth Barrett
Browning that states the intimate ways on how she cherished her significant other. As she counts
the manners in which she cherished him, she expressed the way that she loves him simply and
personally. She goes into great detail about how much she adores her husband. Her love has
many facets, just like the many facets of existence. She begins by describing her love as a strong
force of her soul that is so great that she tries to measure it. Then, how the sun's brilliance lights
her days, she gives an example of a more modest love that keeps her going through each day.
She then draws parallels between her love and what the men has gone through for their rights,
describing her love as unselfish, sincere, and modest, much as good people work to do good in
the world without expecting recognition or reward. She then compares her love to her youthful
faith in good things which is genuine, and the passionate intensity with which she had sought to
overcome her past sufferings. She believes that love would suffice after death, so she must love
him even to the point of death, as God would have her do. She additionally expressed the way
that she adored him readily and without a doubt. Ultimately, the piece discusses the dedication
and uncertain sensation of a spouse towards her significant other that she cherished her better
half simply and deliberate. Love has the force of changing standard things into phenomenal one's
since affection is our widespread language and it is timeless.
 References:

Jenson, J. “Sonnet 43: How do I love thee? By Elizabeth Barret

Browning”. Poem Analysis,

https://poemanalysis.com/elizabeth-barrett-browning/
sonnet-43-how-do-i-love-thee/

Poets.org. Academy of American Poets. Elizabeth Barret

Browning
https://poets.org/poet/elizabeth-barrett-browning