The+Victorian+Period

Ah the Victorian era, a period of prosperity and pride for Britain. The culture was amid a shift from romantisicm to rationalism and men were well... in charge. As seen in the photo above men stood with the ability to do anything at any time, knowing all the while that their faithful doe-eyed women would be skirting around the home stitching things and dreaming of cooking dinner for their hard working husbands. All in all that is the mindset that surrounded the era. Men work and create greatness in the world, women belong "in the kitchen. "

=Elizabeth Barrett Browning "Sonnet 43"= 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 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. 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.

=Summary= In "Sonnet 43" Elizabeth Barrett Browning's narrator takes on the eyes of the ideal Victorian woman as she "count[s] the ways" she loves "thee" ( her man). The narrator tries to list all the way in which she loves "thee", but her love appears to be omniscient, and a love that she will carry beyond the grave if possible. =Themes= Love, yes love. If you didn't catch on this poem is centered around love and all the different forms it can have. Do these forms of love work together or conflict one another, that is the question. The poem also explores communication as the narrator attempts to communicate the strength and full extent of her love. The narrator becomes some what grim saying " I shall but love thee better after death;" this last devotion of love brings the tone of morality into the poem.

=Literary Techniques= Browning uses repetition of the phrase "i love" to embed the everywhere-ness of her love. She loves in every way possibly in this repetition we hear her love again and again creating a understanding that this love encompasses her life. The poem begins using lots of "th" sounds (thee, depth, breadth, height) creating a breathy feel to the poem causing the rhythm of the poem to be slowed. The poem starts with a light tone and works its way in to a more morbid state going from images such as breath and light to death.