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.
Elizabeth Barret Browning (1806-1861) was one of the most prominent poets of the
Victorian era. She was born on 6 March 1806, in Coxhoe Hall, near Durham. She was the eldest
of the 12 children of Edward Barrett Moulton and Mary Graham Clarke. Elizabeth’s childhood
was spent in the country, chiefly at Hope End, a house bought by her father in the beautiful
country in sight of the Malvern Hills. A precocious and ardent student, Elizabeth Barrett studied
with a governess and undertook to share her brother’s lessons in Latin and Greek.
A severe
respiratory ailment at the age of 15, along with spine injury from a horse riding accident made her
a recluse. A voracious reader, she found solace in books.
She began to write verse at an early age. In 1832, Mr. Barrett sold his house of Hope End,
and brought his family to Sid mouth, Devon, for some three years. There Elizabeth made a
translation of the Prometheus Bound of Aeschylus. In 1838, she published a collection of poems
titled The Seraphim and Other Poems. The volume of Poems published in 1844 won her much
critical acclaim.
Robert Browning was very much captivated by her poetic charms and he was
prompted to write expressing his appreciation: ‘I do, as I say, love these books with all my heart
and I love you too.’ This was the beginning of their life-long relationship. They were married
secretly in 1846 and moved to Italy. Her best known poems were the ones that she wrote for her
love Robert Browning between 1845 and 1847 under the title Sonnets from the Portuguese. After
the death of William Wordsworth, her name was even suggested as his successor as Poet Laureate
of England.
In June 1861, saddened by the death of her sister, she fell ill at Casa Guidi and died there.
The sonnet How do I Love Thee is written by the famous Victorian poet Elizabeth Barret
Browning. This poem is the 43rd sonnet in her collection Sonnets from the Portuguese.
The poet addresses the poem to her husband Robert Browning. Love is the most prominent
theme of this sonnet. She wants to express her love which is intense and sincere.
The poet deeply loves her husband and she wants to measure her love. Love is not a
concrete object but an abstract feeling which can’t be measured. But the poet says that
with her soul she can measure the depth, breadth and height of her love. Her love is three
dimensional, i.e., deep, noble and that transcends space.
The very essence of her existence
is to attain salvation and to her, salvation is belonging to her love.
The poet goes on to explain how much she loves her husband. She loves him enough to
meet all his simple needs during the day and also during the night. She loves him sincerely
as men who struggle for freedom. Her love is so genuine that she does not expect any
personal gain from it.
She even loves him with an intensity of the suffering during times of grief.
She loves him
with the blind faith of a child and her love is so innocent as a child. She loves him with a
child like fervour for saints and holiness. Happiness and sorrow do not make any
difference in her love for her love is not an earthly concept but it is eternal and sincere.
The poet proclaims that she will continue to love him and also says that she will love him
better after death. This sonnet celebrates true love which will go beyond the cold grave.
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