“The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves.” This timeless saying by Victor Hugo embodies the ultimate declaration of love which Elizabeth Barrett Browning explicitly writes about. “How Do I Love Thee? Let me Count the Ways” is a sonnet bathed in rhyme and sentimental avowals (line1). The poem describes the enduring love that the author has for her husband and how their love could not be destroyed by any spiritual or human power (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013, p. 661). The author’s diction and the use of different techniques and literary devices such as analogies, anaphora, and exaggerations depicts the powerful emotions behind the theme of love.
The title of the sonnet expresses the numerous ways that Browning has loved her husband. She also focusses on the reality of her love as well as the extensions of its outreach in the second line. Through the use of anaphora, Browning repeats the sounds “the” and “thee” found in line one. She also repeatedly addresses her husband in a series of clauses as a way of revealing the several aspects of her love, which she expresses them by reiterating the statement “I love thee…”. By reiterating the statement, Browning shows that the passion and love she has for her husband is tremendously redemptive and hence pure – the kind of love which is free from self-interest and coercion.
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The author uses exaggeration at the beginning of the poem to show her extent of love to her husband. In the sonnet, Browning state that she is going to love her partner deeper than her soul could reach. She states, “I love thee to the depth and breadth, and height/My soul can reach when feeling out of sight” (line 2-3). This shows that the author is consumed with love, which she explains by expressing how her soul can be the only limit of the love she felt. Through mystical definitions, Browning also expresses her emotional state of love. The lines “I love thee with the breath, / Smiles, tears, of all my life!” expresses her extreme love which will always remain the same in the bad and good days (line 12-13). Through the use of exaggerations, the author allows her audience to sympathize with her allowing them to understand what it feels like to be in love with someone.
The sonnet reveals the theme of love through the author’s tone in the which is very effective. Beginning from the first line of the sonnet, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,” the reader can understand that the author’s voice has a deeper meaning. Through her tone, Browning makes her readers think that she has been in love all along by expressing her feelings of love. Almost in every line of the sonnet, the speaker’s deep tone is effective except one line, “I shall but love thee better after death” (line 14). This line shows that Browning has a powerful and strong rather than a deep and calm voice because she expresses how she was ready to risk her life in the name of love. Browning says that she is going to love Robert the way she used to love the saints during her childhood, “I love thee with a love I seemed to lose /With my lost saints,” but after she was grown, the love she had was gone.
The author uses analogy to compare the love she is giving free will with the passion given by men when fighting for justice. Besides establishing her love not to be bound, she also shows that it is honest and strong. Browning also states, “I love thee with a love I seemed to lose /With my lost saints,” which reveals how her love is pure and modest like the hearts of men who are fighting for their justice (line 11-12). The analogies used in the poem, add to the theme of love in the poem that the author expresses towards her lover.
The theme of love is also expressed by the author through her prosaic assessment of love- the way she loved her partner daily. “I love thee to the level of every day’s/Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight” (line 5-6). Browning puts stress on “I love thee,” at the start of the line to create the effect of someone praying and chanting. It also presents answers to the readers on the question posed at the begging of the sonnet. The author’s love for her husband is demonstrated as she goes about with her daily operations meekly and quietly. By referring to the candlelight and the sun, the author suggests that she serves her husband both day and night. Through this, she can get a glimpse of all the things she does as part of her expression of love.
By shedding further light on her emotions, the poet reveals the theme of love by addressing the passion she feels for her husband, which is like the one she felt when she was deeply grieved. Browning says, “I love thee with the passion put to use, In my old griefs and my childhood’s faith,” which means that the passion arising from her heart when she grieved was the kindest. This also means that after she fell in love with her husband, her old grievances seemed unimportant since the passion that was infused in her then, are now used in loving him. She also feels the same sense of security, which she felt when she was younger whenever she is with her husband.
Browning’s ability to articulate the theme of love remains consistent throughout the sonnet. In the final lines of the poem, she expresses how her passion and love are the ones that defy temporality by stating, “I shall but love thee better after death” (line 14). In the last line, Browning reveals how she fears if the love she has for her husband will cease to exist; instead, if God permits it, the love will grow even stronger after her death. Through her allusion to religious conviction, “and, if God chooses,” Browning builds the impression of love to be something that exists externally in the temporality context. Thus, she vibrantly expresses love as an aspect that is also accepted spiritually.
Browning’s sonnet “How do I love thee?…” is a sonnet that uses different techniques and literary devices to portray the theme of love behind the speaker’s powerful emotions. Her passion and love are apparent in her literary text, which she has expressed openly to her husband, Robert. Throughout the sonnet, Browning addresses the theme of love through the use of anaphora, exaggeration, analogy, her effective tone, and the prosaic assessment of love. Through the use of these poetic devices, the author successfully accounts for the impact and the overall effect on her readers. Therefore, the author can grab the attention of her readers by using deep messages to reveal the theme of love, which also provides the unique beauty of the poem.
References
Browning, E. B., & Agbabi, P. (2004). How do I love thee? Let me count the ways . ProQuest LLC.
Kennedy, X. J., & Gioia, D. (2013). Literature: An introduction to fiction, poetry, drama, and writing . D. Stone (Ed.). Pearson. (661)
