How Do I Love Thee? by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Poem & Explanation)

How Do I Love Thee?

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

(Poem & Explanation)

How Do I Love Thee?

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.

Explanation

This sonnet is from ‘Sonnets from Portugese’. It is a simple love poem in which the poet tries to describe how much she loves her beloved. This is a convention in love poetry. She brings in the three dimensions of the universe - height, width and depth of all the space. As the love is experienced by her soul, the poet goes on to describe her love in terms of her innocence, faith and purity that her soul had. Finally, the poet says love governs all the emotions of her heart - of happiness or unhappiness. She feels that her love would continue even beyond death.

The poet uses simple language to portray the deep current of emotion she feels. It is an unusual poem as it invites greater attention and repeated readings. Each line puts forth a different aspect of love - she loves “freely - as men strive for right”, meaning that the act of striving for what is right is compared to the act of loving freely. The love is not only an emotional experience but a part of her self-definition.

In the sonnet, the poet has used the Italian sonnet form. There are 2 sets of four lines making an octave (set of eight lines). The rhyme scheme is - abba abba. The last six lines (sestet) take the idea further, and use rhyme scheme - cde cde.

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