Browning was born in Mach of 1806. She lived a quiet life in the country with her parents and eleven siblings. She was a daughter of privilege, her father acquiring most of his money from Jamaican sugar trade. As a child she was a bit unusual. She did enjoy riding her pony, and attending social gatherings with her brother and sisters. What she mostly enjoyed however, is reading. She had tutors; she loved to study languages, including Greek and Hebrew. At the age of fifteen she fell ill and upon her fathers request she was prescribed opium, when she was thirty she suffered a serious lung illness. For the rest of her unmarried life she lived in seclusion, surround by books and paintings. (Doesn’t it seem that most of these authors suffer from some type of illness?). Her health did not keep her from writing she continued to publish poetry and essays.
The one particular poem that I was attracted to was the “Sonnets form the Portuguese” number 43. The poem begins “How do I love thee, let me count the ways?” I keep wanting to say “their ain’t no number high enough to end this phrase” which are the lyrics to a country song by Garth Brooks. Her poem is delightful it is witty and sweet. My favorite lines from this poem are “I love thee with the passion put to use/ In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.” It makes so much sense to me. I know how much effort into worrying, about money, family, and relationships. If I could put that same passion into loving someone, as I do about worrying about past events and what might happen, then it would be amazing. If I could have faith in someone like a child, to be in love and to be fearless is truly ideal. This idea of loving with a child’s faith is very religious. Jesus calls us to have like a child, to believe like a child, without hesitation. A type of faith that is pure. This may have been what Browning intended. For her love, or the love that is described in the poem, to be pure, holy even. Something that is so wholesome that only a child would be able to see it for what it is truly worth. She maybe even inspired Garth Brooks a little, he used that line in his song “Wrapped up in You.”
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3 comments:
Thanks for such a great blog. As you should know by now, Elizabeth Browning is one of my favorite and her Sonnets are the best. It was interesting to see how you have taken the time to explain in detail a certain section of a sonnet. I really appreciate how you have compared the faith of the child that the author spoke abut in the sonnet to that of the child that Jesus spoke about in the Bible. I did not thought about it that way but the more I read your blog it does make sense.
Thanks for taking your time in giving such a wonderful analysis. Just in case you were wondering which sonnet I wrote about, below is the first stanza:-
"Say over again, and yet once over again,That thou doest love me. Though the word repeated should seem "a cuckoo-song" as thou does treat it,remember, never to the hill or plain. Valley and wood, without her cuckoo-strain comes the fresh Spring in all her green completed." (page 530, lines 1-6)
Lindsay,
Good focus on and exploration of Barrett Browning's sonnet. While it does take you a little time to get to the point, due to the intro paragraph, when you finally do you make some interesting insights. By the way, thanks for mentioning Garth Brooks's song--I didn't know about it!
All that I could say in response to your blog is "wow!" You did such a great job at expressing your ideas about the poem. I, too, blogged Sonnet 43 and it is my favorite throughout the entire book. Your take on the poem is beautifully amazing. I enjoyed this blog
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