Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote sonnet 43 in a series of sonnets titled Sonnets from the Portuguese. Although the individuals in the poem ‒ the narrator and the lover ‒ are ambiguous, there is a strong correlation between Barrett Browning's love life and the complex love of the sonnet. Even though there can be an argument made that sonnet 43 is not Barrett Browning’s husband, I will be using the assumption that Barrett Browning is the narrator and her husband is the lover. The theme that surrounds this sonnet is the multi-dimensional, logical, and perpetual affection she has for her lover. The love she defines in the sonnet varies from each line: it is passionate, yet simple; structural, yet casual; and consistent, yet different. Barrett Browning’s
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The meter in the sonnet is in iambic pentameter. But the last line proclaiming that “[she] shall but love thee better after death” (14) is in iambic tetrameter, which signifies the ambiguity of the person and the time of their death. Even though the death is uncertain, she will love him even more intensely in the afterlife. Barrett Browning asks the question “How do[es] [she] love thee” (1) starts the sonnet of with a trochee which initiates the answer to her own question and establishes her response. She illustrates her devotion in the quotation “I love thee to the level of everyday’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” (5-8) there are anapestic feet driving the sonnet forward describing the attachment Barrett Browning has for her lover and focusing on the comparisons between love, modesty, and moral choices, focusing different ways she is affectionate towards her lover. Also, she describes the simplistic love she has for her husband that she will love him all the time under any lighting. The changes in meter add nuances of the expression of her love to her significant
The meter in the sonnet is in iambic pentameter. But the last line proclaiming that “[she] shall but love thee better after death” (14) is in iambic tetrameter, which signifies the ambiguity of the person and the time of their death. Even though the death is uncertain, she will love him even more intensely in the afterlife. Barrett Browning asks the question “How do[es] [she] love thee” (1) starts the sonnet of with a trochee which initiates the answer to her own question and establishes her response. She illustrates her devotion in the quotation “I love thee to the level of everyday’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” (5-8) there are anapestic feet driving the sonnet forward describing the attachment Barrett Browning has for her lover and focusing on the comparisons between love, modesty, and moral choices, focusing different ways she is affectionate towards her lover. Also, she describes the simplistic love she has for her husband that she will love him all the time under any lighting. The changes in meter add nuances of the expression of her love to her significant