Today im going to talke about famous love poem called How do I love thee and it writing by the

author Elizabeth barret browing .

Elizabeth Barret Browning (1806-1861)

 She was born on March 6th , 1806 in Durham, England - died on June 29th ,
1861 in Florence, Italy
 she one of the greatest writers of the Victorian period.
 She was the eldest of twelve children
 She did not attended at school from age four
 Her first poem was written when she was 13 years old and at age twenty
she published her first poem
 Elizabeth had  health issues since she was a child. Which is lung illness

She met her husband, Robert Browning, when he wrote her a

letter after she had wrote about him in one of her poems.
Robert was very influential to Elizabeth’s work. Her father has
despised the marriage and never spoke to her again. The two
moved to Florence, Italy where they had 1 son.

In the first line, the speaker poses the main question of the poem: “How do I love thee?” Her mood
is pensive yet happy, as she quickly proceeds to answer her own question: “Let me count the ways.”
From there, she sets the romantic tone of the poem by listing all the ways in which she loves her
lover. The subject “thee” is assumed to be the speaker’s husband.
the first way in which the speaker loves her husband. Barrett Browning writes,
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

This phrase also highlights how much love she has for him, because the words
‘depth,’ ‘breadth,’ and ‘height,’ are all measurement forms, and she loves him to the
highest extent of all of them; she loves him beyond measure.

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of being and ideal grace.

In the third line, the poet describes the extent of her love by describing her soul as a
physical object that can literally ‘reach’ out. This is effective because it shows how
much the poet depends on the person she is talking to; her soul reaches out to him.
In the fourth line is image encapsulates her love for him and her unwavering faith in
him. Browning was a religious woman, and the religious imagery of "grace" and
"soul" suggests that her faith helps her feelings for him.

In the next two lines, poet continues to show her husband how much she loves him. She writes,

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

As the speaker explains, she loves her beloved "to the level of every day’s / most quiet need." This
is a reminder that, even though she loves him with a passionate, abstract intensity (see lines 2-4),
she also loves him in a regular, day-to-day way.

The speaker completes the description of this everyday love with two images of light: "by sun and
candle-light." Basically, this is just a way of saying "in the day and at night," but it also reminds us
that the lovers are looking at each other all the time – and that the speaker here loves her beloved
no matter what light she sees him in.

In lines seven and eight, Barrett Browning writes of two other ways she loves.  She writes,

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.

These lines of Sonnet 43  give an innate sense of feeling to her love.  Just as men naturally strive to
do what is good and right, she freely loves.  In addition, she loves him purely, just as men turn
from praise in order to maintain humility.  

Technical Devices:

 Assonance: which is the repetition of similar vowel sounds. For example in lines 3-4, when
the speaker makes repeated use of the long /e/ sound:

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight/ For the ends of being and ideal grace.

 Alliteration of (p)sound For example, “purely” and “praise” in line eight.

The words “purely” and “praise” begin with the same consonant / p /

Figurative Language

 Metaphor: "by sun and candle-light" (line 6) very likely represents day and night, as the
speaker loves ceaselessly throughout the day and night.

 Similes

In the 7th and 8th lines, similes is founded.

“I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.”

The poet represents her love to her lover using simile. She uses ‘as’ to compare it. She compares her
free love as men who strive for right. She also compares her pure love as those men who turn from
praise.

 Personification

In the third line, personification appears in this poem. From “My soul can reach, when feeling out of
sight”,

Soul is not human being and it can not reach something, but it is given human attributes as if it has
ability to reach.

 Metaphor: It is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between the

objects that are different. For example, the poet compares her love and her soul to a
physical three- dimensional object. In the third line