Elizabeth Barrett-

Browning
• 1806
• Coxhoe Hall, Durham England

• Romantic Movement
• 1944 she produced a collection
entitled simply “Poems”.
Sonnet
• Lyric poem

• 14 iambic pentameter
 Kinds of Sonnet

1. Shakespearean
2. Italian /Petrarchan
 An Italian sonnet is divided into
two parts: the octave, the first
eight lines, and the sestet, the
remaining six lines.
The rhyming pattern used for the
octave is abba abba while the
sestet has two possible patterns,
cde cde and cdc dcd.
 ---------- a
---------- b
---------- b
---------- a
---------- a
---------- b
---------- b
---------- a
---------- c/c
---------- d/d
---------- e/c
---------- c/d
---------- d/c
---------- e/d
 Sonnet 14

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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'—
For these things in themselves, Beloved,
may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and
love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me
for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks
dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who
bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love
thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that
evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love's
eternity.
1. To whom do you think Elizabeth
Barrett Browning dedicates the
sonnet?

2. What is love based on the sonnet?

3. Does love have the ability to last

for eternity? Why or why not?
4. Why Elizabeth Browning didn’t
want to be loved for the mentioned
reasons?
Discuss the following lines for
two to three sentences based on
one’s point of view.
“Do not say I love her for her
smile-her look-her way of
speaking gently”
 “But love me for love's sake, that
evermore thou mayst love on,
through love's eternity”
 “But love me for love's sake, that
evermore thou mayst love on,
through love's eternity”
Homework.
Answer the following questions.
1.What is an English sonnet?
2.Who was the proponent of the
English sonnet?
3.Give an example of an English
sonnet.
4.Identify the rhyming pattern of the
chosen sonnet.