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 every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
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.
~Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Funny . . . I have known the first fiew lines of this Sonnet, all of my life it seems . . . but had never read the rest of it . . . until today. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian Era, her poetry being popular both in the UK and in America. Her last book of poetry was published by her husband, Robert Browning, after her death.
Born in Coxhoe Hall, situated between the villages of Coxhoe and Kelloe in the Country Durham, on March 6th 1806, she was to be the eldest of 12 children. Later on in the year she was born her father purchased Hope End, and they moved there. She was educated primarily at home by her brother's tutor. She was thought to be an intense, studious and precious child. She writes that at the age of six, she was reading novels, at eight she was completely entranced by Homer, and at ten . . .studying Greek and writing her own Homerian epic, the Battle of Marathon. Her earliest poetry efforts were gathered into a book by her mother. Her father called her the "Poet Laureate of Hope End." So it seems that she was greatly encouraged by her parents. I think that is a parents' job, to encourage their children in the talents that they express. She watched her brothers go off to school knowing that there was no chance of that education for herself. Elizabeth was very close to her siblings and had great respect for her father: she claimed that life was no fun without him, and her mother agreed. Her first known poem was written at the tender age of eight.
At about age 15 Barrett Browning began to battle with a lifelong illness, which the medical science of the time was unable to diagnose. All three sisters came down with the syndrome although it lasted only with Elizabeth. She had intense head and spinal pain with loss of mobility. Apocryphally it was told that she fell while trying to saddle a horse or was creating the illness but there is strong evidence that she was seriously sick. The illnesses of this time were, however, unrelated to the lung disease she suffered in 1837. This illness caused her to be frail and weak. She was described at this time, as having "a slight, delicate figure, with a shower of dark curls falling on each side of a most expressive face; large, tender eyes, richly fringed by dark eyelashes, and a smile like a sunbeam". She began to take opiates for the pain, as they did in those days, and would become dependent on them for much of her adulthood; the use from an early age would have contributed to her frail health. Biographers such as Alethea Hayter have suggested that this may have contributed to the wild vividness of her imagination and the poetry it produced.
Her 1844 volume Poems made her one of the most popular writers in the country at the time and inspired Robert Browning to write to her, telling her how much he loved her work. He had been an admirer of her poetry for a long time and wrote "I love your verses with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett" praising their "fresh strange music, the affluent language, the exquisite pathos and true new brave thought." He met Elizabeth on 20 May 1845, in her rooms, and so began one of the most famous courtships in literature. Elizabeth had produced a large amount of work and had been writing long before Robert Browning had. However, he had a great influence on her writing, as did she on his.
The courtship and marriage between Robert Browning and Elizabeth were carried out secretly as she and her siblings were convinced their father would disapprove. Six years his elder and an invalid, she could not believe that the vigorous and worldly Robert Browning really loved her as much as he professed to. After a private marriage at St. Marylebone Parish Church, they honeymooned in Paris, after which he spirited his wife off to Italy, in September 1846, which became her home almost continuously until her death in 1867, in her husband's arms. Browning said that she died "smilingly, happily, and with a face like a girl's. … Her last word was—… 'Beautiful'" .
I have enjoyed learning more about Elizabeth here this morning, and I hope that you have too.
I am off to Runcorn today to meet with my friends Sheilagh and Trish and then we are off the Aintree to a big Craft Show that they have their each year. I went with them last year as well and really enjoyed it. We're also popping in to Ikea, which will be a first for me! I hope that you all have a lovely Saturday! I know that I will, despite the rain!
Baking in The English Kitchen today, Old Fashioned Molasses Crinkles!
“When life is hard, remember - we are not the first to ask, 'Is there no other way?”
~Jeffrey R Holland
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