Elizabeth Barrett Browning Poetry Analysis

Well known for one of her most famous poem How Do I Love Thee, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, was a respected poet long before her marriage to Robert Browning. It seems that her memory is known for this poem written about her husband. The quiet romance that happened between the two is what seems to pull readers in, as well as Mrs. Browning 's life. From a life threatening sickness to a famous poet and a love filled marriage, Elizabeth Barrett Browning had a life that people would want to know about for centuries.

Elizabeth Barrett was born to Edward Moulton Barrett and Mary Barrett on March 6, 1806 at Coxhoe Hall in Durham, England. She was born the oldest of 12 siblings into a wealthy family whose money came from Jamaican sugar plantations.

Poems by Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, written in 1844, contained multiple voices, styles and subjects such as half-rhymes and compound words. All at once these intrigued, infuriated, and disturbed her readers. Recently, they have been seen as influences on poets after her and literary modernism. Sonnets from the Portuguese, a poem that is said to have secretly been for her husband, during the development of their relationship. The poems are her best known, for the romantic and psychological picture of developing love. It tells the emotion state of the poet, from surprise, disinclination and confusion to passion, trust and hope for the future. She is also well known for two poems in her book Poems which focus on social issues. The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point is the story of a slave who murders her child, who was the result of a rape by her white slave owner. The Cry of the Children is a protesting poem for inhuman conditions for child laborers in British coal mines and factories. Not only did the poems evoke a strong response from readers, but the also predicted the political concerns of Browning 's next book of poetry, Casa Guidi Windows. This book expressed Browning 's interest in the politics of the Italian Risorgimento. Also known as a Poem written in two parts, the first written in 1848, was filled with optimism of the Italian revolution

The poem expresses Elizabeth 's intense love for her soon-to-be husband, Robert Browning. The opening of the poem is said to be" burrowed into our national subconscious while the rest of the poem has somehow wandered away, gotten itself lost "(Kelly p1) The critic is saying that people are fascinated with the thoughts of love of the poet, but not what she lists about Robert Browning. In the first octave, Elizabeth describes her love for Browning as being spiritual, aspiring towards God. She then describes her love as earthly, a love that enriches life. The uses repetition saying How Do I Love Thee but she measures every part of her love using words such as " "depth," "breadth" and "height"--but it is a measure of the self, of who the woman-poet is and will be, and how can be valued." (Reynolds p 31) Although, love cannot be measured in numbers, Elizabeth uses it to express the depth her love for Robert. It seems as if Elizabeth is finding it hard to put a measurement or barrier on the capacity of her love for her husband, due to having to keep it all in for years. She believes in true love having no limits. The sonnets she has written "may not have been designed as a public statement" but it is said "here she escapes an old regime where she was enjoined to silence or riddles, and she transforms herself into a speaking subject who can take her own story to market".