How Do I Love Thee?

Elizabeth Barrett-Browning
Elizabeth Barrett-Browning
Elizabeth Barrett-
Browning ᴥ Born: March 6, 1806 
Durham, England 

ᴥ Died: June 29, 1861 

Florence, Italy
 ᴥ never received any formal education
Elizabeth Barrett- but loved to read
Browning
ᴥ In 1821 she began to suffer from a
nervous disorder that caused
headaches, weakness, and fainting
spells.
 ᴥ The Barretts moved to London, England,
here Elizabeth started literary friendships
Elizabeth Barrett- that encouraged her writing.
Browning
ᴥ In 1838 Barrett's illness worsened and she
relocated to a sea resort for her health. Her
favorite brother Edward stayed with her.
Two years later Edward drowned after a
disagreement with Elizabeth.
 ᴥ By far the most significant result
Elizabeth Barrett- of Poems was the beginning of Barrett's
Browning relationship with the poet Robert
Browning (1812–1889). Attracted by her
praise of his poetry, Browning wrote to her
on January 10, 1845, and thus began
England's most famous literary love affair.
 ᴥ Because Elizabeth's father had
Elizabeth Barrett- forbidden any of his children to marry,
Browning the couple was secretly married on
September 12, 1846. In anger and
frustration, Mr. Barrett refused ever to
see his daughter again. Fortunately
Elizabeth had inherited other money.
 ᴥ The Brownings journeyed south
Elizabeth Barrett- through France to Italy. Casa Guidi in
Browning Florence was their home for the rest of
Mrs. Browning's life. There her health
was so improved that on March 9, 1849,
she gave birth to a son, Robert
Wiedeman Barrett Browning.
Symbol Analysis LOVE
ᴥ love is everything
ᴥ the way that the speaker actually knows
she exists
ᴥ tries to list the different types of love
that she feels
 GRIEF & LOSS
Symbol Analysis ᴥ includes references to her feelings of grief,
bitterness, and the loss of innocence
ᴥ The love she feels for "thee" is beautiful and
intense, but it's also the follow-up to a series
of less warm and fuzzy feelings.
ᴥ She's felt disillusionment, loneliness, and
anger in the past, and all of these affect the
way she feels love in the present.
 LOVE
Themes
ᴥ Why would it be useful to count the
ways that you love someone? Does
counting the ways you love increase the
love or decrease the love?
ᴥ Which kind of love described in the
sonnet seems most familiar to you?
Which seems strangest? Why?
 ADMIRATION
Themes ᴥ Does the speaker of "How do I love thee?" look
up to or admire her beloved? Is she placing the
beloved on a pedestal?
ᴥ Who are the speaker's "lost saints"?
ᴥ At one point in this poem, the speaker says that
she loves with her "childhood's faith". In what
or whom did she have faith? Why? Does she
still have that same faith?
 MORTALITY
Themes
ᴥ Why does this sonnet reference death at
all? Why might the speaker be thinking
about death in the context of describing
the ways that she loves?
ᴥ Whose death is being referred to in the
final line of the sonnet – the speaker's or
the beloved's?