The poem “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a sonnet that follows the pattern of an Italian/Petrarchan sonnet. This form of sonnet has the following characteristics: it contains one octave with the rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA, sestet with a rhyme scheme of CDCDCD, and it is written in fourteen lines of iambic pentameter with some variations to provide emphasis on the meanings of certain lines. On the surface of this poem, one notices the speaker’s love for the poem’s recipient. However, beneath the surface there is a deeper version that consists of figurative language, diction, and form that introduces a love that is all-encompassing and of a higher prestige. The speaker answers the question of “how” instead of “why” because
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Let me count the ways” (1). This is more of a rhetorical question because she is not expecting an answer from someone else, she is making a statement so she can describe the degree of her emotions throughout the rest of the poem. The speaker mentions counting the ways of loving someone, as if she’s keeping count of the many different ranges of emotions she has. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “count” as “determining the total number of something” for a generic definition, but it can also mean to “take into account or include.” Therefore, the speaker wants to include every form of her love by describing all the aspects, instead of measuring the ways numerically, which would lessen the depth of her …show more content…
In line 12 and 13, there are dashes to break up the sentence structure, which causes the reader to pause and linger on that part of the poem. The tone almost seems to change after the dashes; at first the speaker appears to grow more enthusiastic with when she says “with the breath, / Smiles, tears, of all my life! —” (12-13). The use of commas breaks up the pattern and causes the speaker’s tone to become more passionate. After the dash, the speaker seems to appear contemplative about her future and it appears promising when she says “if God choose, / I shall but love thee better after death” (13-14). She begins thinking about what would happen if she were to die, which causes her to make a promise love him more after
Let me count the ways” (1). This is more of a rhetorical question because she is not expecting an answer from someone else, she is making a statement so she can describe the degree of her emotions throughout the rest of the poem. The speaker mentions counting the ways of loving someone, as if she’s keeping count of the many different ranges of emotions she has. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “count” as “determining the total number of something” for a generic definition, but it can also mean to “take into account or include.” Therefore, the speaker wants to include every form of her love by describing all the aspects, instead of measuring the ways numerically, which would lessen the depth of her …show more content…
In line 12 and 13, there are dashes to break up the sentence structure, which causes the reader to pause and linger on that part of the poem. The tone almost seems to change after the dashes; at first the speaker appears to grow more enthusiastic with when she says “with the breath, / Smiles, tears, of all my life! —” (12-13). The use of commas breaks up the pattern and causes the speaker’s tone to become more passionate. After the dash, the speaker seems to appear contemplative about her future and it appears promising when she says “if God choose, / I shall but love thee better after death” (13-14). She begins thinking about what would happen if she were to die, which causes her to make a promise love him more after