Sonnet 29 - ‘I think of thee!’ - Elizabeth Barret Browning
Poem about passion and lust
CONTEXTUAL REFERENCES/THINGS TO NOTE:
Victorian women were expected to be modest, self contained and passive - which makes this
expression of strong emotions and passion would be unusual at the time
This poem was made for her soon-to-be husband at the time when they were courting -
Porphyria’s Lover written by her husband to her
THEMES:
Fantasy vs Reality Love, Vulnerability & Freedom Passion
METHODS:
Form - The Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet
- This means that it has 14 lines, made up of a octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines) -
Browning’s sonnet is quite unconventional though, specifically, in placement of the volta
- The volta comes quite early in the poem, in line 5/6, with another tone shift in the
last 3 lines of the poem, as a summation of the speakers point; that in being
present with her beloved, she finds freedom
Rhythm - Iambic Pentameter
Rhyme - Traditional rhyme scheme for an Italian sonnet- ABBAABBACDCDCD
- Uses possessive and assertive pronouns
- Semantic field of nature (explained below)
- Semantic field accumulates the effect to make it needy and desperate
QUOTE BANK AND IMAGERY:
“I think of thee! - my thoughts do twine and bud” - thoughts are always with this person - ‘bud’
lending to the idea of fertility - Passion
- IMAGERY OF A TREE:
- Enhances the vibrancy of the speakers emotion
- Representing natural and true relationship
- Adds to sensual nature - deeper connotations of sexual imagery - Passion Love,
Vulnerability & Freedom
“Rustle thy boughs and set thy trunk bare” - sexual imagery demands closeness and intimacy -
Passion Love, Vulnerability & Freedom
“And soon there’s nought to see” - Thinking about him so much that it obscures the reality of him
- Fantasy vs Reality
‘I will not have my thoughts instead of thee” - Would prefer the the reality if him, rather than the
romanticised version of him - Fantasy vs Reality
COMPARISON
Letters of Yorkshire - strains of distance
Singh Song! - longing to be together
,Walking Away
A poem about a father and son’s relationship, and the moment his father realises he has
to start letting his son go
THEMES
Change New beginnings Parental love Independence Exploration & Development
METHODS
Rhythm - Inconsistent, mix of long + short sentences and punctuation, and the way this
develops in the poem is meant to show the speakers initial hesitancy about letting go
developing to acceptance
Rhyme scheme - ABACA - represents the push and pull between the father’s want to let his son
go, against the want to keep his son close. The ‘A’ lines mainly show the father holding the son
close, and the ‘B’ and ‘C’ lines mainly show the father having to let go and let his son find his
own way
Dashes - reinforces the fact that this is a memory, since it is more conversational, vague and
non-specific, showing hesitancy to let go of his son. It also causes imprecision - a way for the
writer to add more
Enjambment - used throughout the entire poem - represents the time passing - it is inevitable
and unstoppable, time will have to pass as it needs to
QUOTE BANK AND IMAGERY
Space Imagery:
- “Your first game of football, then, like a satellite”
- “Wrenched from its orbit”
The space imagery and semantic field could be used to highlight a theme of exploration and
development
- “A sunny day, leaves just turning” - symbolic of change, new beginnings - change in
seasons
- “Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away” - wrenching and drifting contrast each other,
but both still create the impression of aimlessness of the child in his life at that point in
life - like all children when they grow up.(finish quotes)
COMPARISON
Mother, any distance - the difficulty of letting go (parent-child relationships)
, Eden Rock
A poem about the narrator’s parents asking him to join them in the afterlife - a loving
familial relationship presented through an idyllic scene
THEMES
Parental love Afterlife Reuniting Nostalgia
METHODS
Rhythm - Ten syllables per line - iambic pentameter - possibly representing the stability of the
relationship between the speaker and parent
Rhyme - Half-rhymes used like ‘dress’ and ‘stress’, ‘hat’ and ‘light’ - could reflect an incomplete
nature of their relationship, or the separation between the speaker and his parents. It also
creates a sense of immediacy to the tone of the poem - full rhyme would be too jovial for this
poem
Use of exclamatory punctuation - ‘see where the stream-path is!’ - the enthusiasm juxtaposes
the morose tone
Pacing - the pace in the second section is much more relaxed - ends 4th stanzas with ‘
leisurely,’ implying there is no time pressure for the speaker to enter the afterlife. Slowing down
the pace and rhythm shows the reluctance of the speaker to follow his parents
Third person plural pronouns distances the speaker from the parents
QUOTE BANK/IMAGERY
Archaic Imagery:
- ‘Of Genuine Irish Tweed’
- ‘Spread the stiff white cloth’
- ‘She pours tea from a Thermos’
- ‘From an old H.P. sauce bottle’
The archaic and domestic imagery brings a feeling of nostalgia, and it makes it seem more
personal to the speaker - these items are so specific, and act as stories within the speaker’s life
and relationship with his parents which are being recounted, drawing him in with that feeling of
comfort and nostalgia. This could link to the fact that in the end of the poem, the parents try to
call him over and get him to join them in the afterlife, and these items that are evocative of the
speaker’s memories are pushing him towards joining his parents in the afterlife would add to the
struggle the speaker feels to decide whether to join them or stay. This would link into the next
quote:
- ‘I had not thought it would be like this’
This last line is separated from the rest of the poem to symbolise the separation the speaker
experiences from his parents. The language is deliberately ambiguous and vague. It is symbolic
of the separation from his parents, and the gap between life and death, where the speaker now
has to make a tough decision about whether to go to the afterlife or not. And even after he
seems to be reminiscing over the stories of his past life with his parents, he still seems uncertain
about it. This would highlight views on death and views on the bridge between the life and death
- possibly commenting on the difficulty of accepting death
Poem about passion and lust
CONTEXTUAL REFERENCES/THINGS TO NOTE:
Victorian women were expected to be modest, self contained and passive - which makes this
expression of strong emotions and passion would be unusual at the time
This poem was made for her soon-to-be husband at the time when they were courting -
Porphyria’s Lover written by her husband to her
THEMES:
Fantasy vs Reality Love, Vulnerability & Freedom Passion
METHODS:
Form - The Italian or Petrarchan Sonnet
- This means that it has 14 lines, made up of a octave (8 lines) and a sestet (6 lines) -
Browning’s sonnet is quite unconventional though, specifically, in placement of the volta
- The volta comes quite early in the poem, in line 5/6, with another tone shift in the
last 3 lines of the poem, as a summation of the speakers point; that in being
present with her beloved, she finds freedom
Rhythm - Iambic Pentameter
Rhyme - Traditional rhyme scheme for an Italian sonnet- ABBAABBACDCDCD
- Uses possessive and assertive pronouns
- Semantic field of nature (explained below)
- Semantic field accumulates the effect to make it needy and desperate
QUOTE BANK AND IMAGERY:
“I think of thee! - my thoughts do twine and bud” - thoughts are always with this person - ‘bud’
lending to the idea of fertility - Passion
- IMAGERY OF A TREE:
- Enhances the vibrancy of the speakers emotion
- Representing natural and true relationship
- Adds to sensual nature - deeper connotations of sexual imagery - Passion Love,
Vulnerability & Freedom
“Rustle thy boughs and set thy trunk bare” - sexual imagery demands closeness and intimacy -
Passion Love, Vulnerability & Freedom
“And soon there’s nought to see” - Thinking about him so much that it obscures the reality of him
- Fantasy vs Reality
‘I will not have my thoughts instead of thee” - Would prefer the the reality if him, rather than the
romanticised version of him - Fantasy vs Reality
COMPARISON
Letters of Yorkshire - strains of distance
Singh Song! - longing to be together
,Walking Away
A poem about a father and son’s relationship, and the moment his father realises he has
to start letting his son go
THEMES
Change New beginnings Parental love Independence Exploration & Development
METHODS
Rhythm - Inconsistent, mix of long + short sentences and punctuation, and the way this
develops in the poem is meant to show the speakers initial hesitancy about letting go
developing to acceptance
Rhyme scheme - ABACA - represents the push and pull between the father’s want to let his son
go, against the want to keep his son close. The ‘A’ lines mainly show the father holding the son
close, and the ‘B’ and ‘C’ lines mainly show the father having to let go and let his son find his
own way
Dashes - reinforces the fact that this is a memory, since it is more conversational, vague and
non-specific, showing hesitancy to let go of his son. It also causes imprecision - a way for the
writer to add more
Enjambment - used throughout the entire poem - represents the time passing - it is inevitable
and unstoppable, time will have to pass as it needs to
QUOTE BANK AND IMAGERY
Space Imagery:
- “Your first game of football, then, like a satellite”
- “Wrenched from its orbit”
The space imagery and semantic field could be used to highlight a theme of exploration and
development
- “A sunny day, leaves just turning” - symbolic of change, new beginnings - change in
seasons
- “Wrenched from its orbit, go drifting away” - wrenching and drifting contrast each other,
but both still create the impression of aimlessness of the child in his life at that point in
life - like all children when they grow up.(finish quotes)
COMPARISON
Mother, any distance - the difficulty of letting go (parent-child relationships)
, Eden Rock
A poem about the narrator’s parents asking him to join them in the afterlife - a loving
familial relationship presented through an idyllic scene
THEMES
Parental love Afterlife Reuniting Nostalgia
METHODS
Rhythm - Ten syllables per line - iambic pentameter - possibly representing the stability of the
relationship between the speaker and parent
Rhyme - Half-rhymes used like ‘dress’ and ‘stress’, ‘hat’ and ‘light’ - could reflect an incomplete
nature of their relationship, or the separation between the speaker and his parents. It also
creates a sense of immediacy to the tone of the poem - full rhyme would be too jovial for this
poem
Use of exclamatory punctuation - ‘see where the stream-path is!’ - the enthusiasm juxtaposes
the morose tone
Pacing - the pace in the second section is much more relaxed - ends 4th stanzas with ‘
leisurely,’ implying there is no time pressure for the speaker to enter the afterlife. Slowing down
the pace and rhythm shows the reluctance of the speaker to follow his parents
Third person plural pronouns distances the speaker from the parents
QUOTE BANK/IMAGERY
Archaic Imagery:
- ‘Of Genuine Irish Tweed’
- ‘Spread the stiff white cloth’
- ‘She pours tea from a Thermos’
- ‘From an old H.P. sauce bottle’
The archaic and domestic imagery brings a feeling of nostalgia, and it makes it seem more
personal to the speaker - these items are so specific, and act as stories within the speaker’s life
and relationship with his parents which are being recounted, drawing him in with that feeling of
comfort and nostalgia. This could link to the fact that in the end of the poem, the parents try to
call him over and get him to join them in the afterlife, and these items that are evocative of the
speaker’s memories are pushing him towards joining his parents in the afterlife would add to the
struggle the speaker feels to decide whether to join them or stay. This would link into the next
quote:
- ‘I had not thought it would be like this’
This last line is separated from the rest of the poem to symbolise the separation the speaker
experiences from his parents. The language is deliberately ambiguous and vague. It is symbolic
of the separation from his parents, and the gap between life and death, where the speaker now
has to make a tough decision about whether to go to the afterlife or not. And even after he
seems to be reminiscing over the stories of his past life with his parents, he still seems uncertain
about it. This would highlight views on death and views on the bridge between the life and death
- possibly commenting on the difficulty of accepting death
