Elizabeth Barrett Browning in her love sonnet “How Do I Love Thee” beautifully expresses her love for her husband. Listing the different ways in which Elizabeth loves her beloved, she also insists that if God permits her she will continue loving the love of her life even after her death.
A prominent Victorian poet Elizabeth wrote 44 sonnets to express the courtship between herself and Robert Browning, her love and would be husband.
“How Do I Love Thee” is a sensitive poem because of the reason that the poetess here defines herself only in the ways she loves Robert. Love is portrayed to be intangible; it can even be felt even after one settles in the cold grave.
Love according to Elizabeth is not an earthly concept because she loves freely and purely without thinking about the why’s and how’s of love and its future possibilities. Though both the lovers never met but still they express their love for each other by the means of sharing poems and this is obviously one of the poems they shared in the moments of their love.
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Defining her love, by using a spatial metaphor, Elizabeth’s love extends to heights of all the lengths and breadths that her pure soul could possibly reach. She expresses her love for her husband to be from every part of her soul and the poetess in the process is stretching out her arms to show that he means the whole world to her.
As it is said, the person addressed might be someone in the world but for her that someone means the whole world. Her world revolves around the love of her life and she insists that death can separate her from her lover but it cannot separate her love for Robert.
“How I Love Thee does” is undoubtedly a simple poem with a deep hidden meaning. Love is eternal, unconquerable and the highest power in the world. Elizabeth loves her husband to be on a daily basis instead of loving him for a few passionate moments.
Her love is not a slave to momentary passion and this is proved because she is in love with Robert without even meeting him. The poetess by no means is seeking appraisal by the readers she is fully controlled by the emotion of love both internally and externally. She has completely lost control over her body, mind and soul.
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Elizabeth is also stressing on the fact that someone does not have to pretend that they are morally or ethically good, goodness is completely a matter of one’s own choice. Pure love and dedication are the two pillars on which this poem stands and once again the poem proves the most cherished notion that love is eternal and it is unaware of any boundaries.