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Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Decent Essays

Emotions in “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Robert Frost said: “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words.” (Robert Frost) Emotions is the basis of poetry, which describe the main message of it and the authors purpose. In “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the author expresses her tremulous feelings to her husband Robert Browning by using strong emotions that allows her to produce a surprisingly passionate poem.
Starting with the title “How Do I Love Thee,” the reader can already guess that a poem is about a big love. (Barret Browning 509) The title also shows that an author loves a significant person in many different …show more content…

She has this feeling by her own free will, by decision of her heart: “I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.” (Barret Browning 509) The simile makes this poetry more interesting and lyrical. As a strong emotional instrument, the simile emphasizes the power of author’s love without a benefit or advantage. Comparison her feelings shows to the audience her uncompromising devoting herself to her lovely husband no matter what happens.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning gained a love that instinctively felt long before the meeting with her future husband. The ninth and tenth lines described the author as a passionate flower blossoming in marriage with her husband: “I love thee with the passion put to use, In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.” (Barret Browning 509) She did not know about such a deep and strong love before she met Mr. Browning. The connection between the spouses is so reliable, that a wife fully trusts him herself and her life. With the childhood faith, she is ready to open her soul for him.
The author is confessing her greatest love as her mission. The line “I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints” providing her emotional condition. (Barret Browning 509) She will live as long as she loves him and she is ready to sacrifice herself for their holy love. In the last two lines, Mrs. Barrett Browning exhibits a verdict that she wants to get from God: “Smiles, tears, of all my life; and,

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