Sonnet 43 - Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Browning recounts the ways in which she loves her partner. She tries to convey the intensity of her feelings. She ends the
poem hoping that her love will live on after death.
Context
‣ Barrett Browning was an important Victorian poet
⤷ She wrote this sonnet to her husband Robert Browning
⤷ Her father disapproved of them and so they eloped in Italy
‣ She was unusual for her time as it was not acceptable for young middle-class women to be poets
‣ The poem was written in 1850
Summary
‣ begins by trying to measure the size of her love - reveals that it is impossible
‣ compares her love to her vast love of God
‣ says her love is present in everyday activities
⤷ narrator goes through all the ways she loves her partner – comparing her love to:
◦ Philosophy
◦ Religion
◦ Politics
‣ Poem concludes with narrator hoping that she will continue to love her partner, even after death
Subversion of Norms
‣ Unusual for a young middle-class woman to be a poet
‣ Sonnets are traditionally written as love poems - choice of form is not unusual
⤷ However her sonnet does not follow the rules of the form (women were usually silent)
⤷ Even though it seems to be expressing a perfect love, the poem’s form does not try to achieve perfection
‣ expresses female desire and longing in a very open and unashamed way - uncommon for the Victorian era
Selfless Love and devotion
‣ Browning asks for little in return
⤷ poem focuses entirely on how much she loves her partner, rather than what she gets from the relationship
‣ compares her love to selfless religious devotion (partner is her spiritual savior)
⤷ Uses religious imagery throughout the poem to show that she is entirely devoted to her lover
⤷ She does not present her love as perfect
◦ She still serves God - the line 'if God choose' shows that this love is not the same as her love of God
◦ Anaphora of 'I love thee' sounds almost like a prayer to her lover - shows that she is entirely
devoted to her partner
Female Desire
‣ Female desire is a topic that was taboo in the Victorian Era - Browning deals with it openly
‣ unashamed and open about her feelings - shown by her exclamation in the beginning - 'Let me count the ways.'
⤷ talks about deeply personal feelings - 'quiet need' for lover, loves him with 'passion' and 'childhood's faith'
‣ Form of the poem
⤷ Iambic pentameter and disruptive punctuation to mimic natural speech - creates a sense that the poem is a
passionate speech rather than a controlled love poem
◦ idea of love as powerful and all-encompassing; her love enables her to reach otherwise impossible
extremes. The speaker sees her love not as something tangible but instinctive or even spiritual
⤷ The first person language of the poem gives it a sense of intimacy
⤷ traditional form of love poetry - the sonnet - does not follow most of its rules:
◦ originally written by lovers to their unreachable mistresses- women would often be silent
◦ This poem gives the female perspective a voice - celebration of her love not a complaint about her
partner's lack of feeling.
‣ multifaceted presentation of love
⤷ Both sexual and innocent - Browning presents female desire as being just as complex as male desire
, Eternity
‣ believes that her love will live on after death
⤷ Barrett Browning was very religious, like most people in the 19th century
⤷ faith in God allows belief that her love can live on after death
◦ belief that her love is so strong that she believes it will outlive her body
‣ Overwhelming Love
⤷ She believes that her love is made up of 'Smiles, tears, of all her life'
⤷ The use of asyndeton presents her feelings as overwhelming
‣ The poem tracks the narrator's love over the course of her life
⤷ The octave (first eight lines) explores her love in general - an 'everyday...need' -This presents her love as
important to every part of her life
⤷ Sestet (last six lines) - more personal in her focus
◦ her love is made up of her childhood innocence ('old griefs')
◦ and her crises of faith in God ('lost saints')
◦ This shows that her love is complex and a key part of her experience - both good and bad
Key Quotes
‣ ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.’ ‣ ‘Turn from praise’ ‘lost saints’
‣ ‘I love thee’ ‣ ‘Old griefs’ ‘childhood’s faith’
‣ ‘depth and breadth and height’ ‣ ‘breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life!’
‣ ‘Being and ideal Grace’ ‣ ‘If God choose, I shall but love thee better after
‣ ‘everyday’s/ most quiet need’ death’
‣ ‘Sun and candlelight’
, The Manhunt - Simon Armitage
Armitage explores a wife’s experience of her husband who has returned from war
Context
‣ Simon Armitage is a British poet
⤷ known for writing in colloquial language
‣ His poetry often deals with social issues - poem was part of a documentary about soldiers returning from war
‣ Written from perspective of Laura as she tries to understand her Husband, Eddie Beddoes
⤷ Peacekeeper in Bosnia
⤷ Discharged due to injury and depression
Summary
‣ First stanza recounts the first days and nights of the couples reunion
⤷ Compressed into two lines - surface level
‣ Rest of the poem focuses on the wife’s progression along her husband's body
⤷ explores new scars and changed aspects of his body
⤷ At first, poem seems to show that the wife is returning to state of intimacy - Later revealed that she may
never be able to understand how her partner has changed
⤷ As the poem progresses, these changes seem to be more mental than physical
‣ Armitage explores the impact of war on not just the returning soldiers, but their partners
‣ Poem is intimate and private, but ultimately reveals that the narrator may never truly understand what the soldier
has been through - they must now adapt to the new normal
Intimacy
‣ This is an extremely intimate poem that explores a couple trying to reconnect after trauma
⤷ The use of first person address creates private atmosphere
⤷ First person - intimacy and distance at the same time
⤷ First person also helps to create a divide between the narrator and her partner
◦ She cannot access his thoughts, so we as the reader also cannot hear them
‣ The narrator is exploring their partner’s body - trying to categorise all of the changes that war has brought
⤷ pairs of verbs like ‘handle and hold’ and ‘mind and attend’ to present the care and delicacy with which the
narrator is touching their husband’s body
⤷ The pairs of verbs present the patience of the narrator and the effort they are making
⤷ Makes the final conclusion that they can only ‘come close’ to understanding what the soldier has gone
through all the more tragic
Mental Instability
‣ The Manhunt deals with the impact of being in a war zone, both physically and mentally
‣ Machine imagery
⤷ Armitage uses metaphors that present the soldier's body as if it were a machine
◦ His shoulder is a ‘rudder’
◦ His lung is made of ‘parachute silk’
⤷ These dehumanise the soldier - as if war has made him into more of a machine than a person
⤷ The war imagery is used not only to describe his body as a machine, but also as if it is a warzone
◦ His mind has an ‘unexploded mine’ - suggests that the slightest change could set off an explosion
‣ Mental health
⤷ The potential instability of the narrator's partner gives the poem a dangerous edge
◦ reader is constantly aware that the soldier might fall apart
⤷ adds to the need for the narrator to take extra care not to set off the bomb
◦ took this long for partner to ‘let [them] trace’ the scars on his body - one wrong move could end
their returning intimacy
Browning recounts the ways in which she loves her partner. She tries to convey the intensity of her feelings. She ends the
poem hoping that her love will live on after death.
Context
‣ Barrett Browning was an important Victorian poet
⤷ She wrote this sonnet to her husband Robert Browning
⤷ Her father disapproved of them and so they eloped in Italy
‣ She was unusual for her time as it was not acceptable for young middle-class women to be poets
‣ The poem was written in 1850
Summary
‣ begins by trying to measure the size of her love - reveals that it is impossible
‣ compares her love to her vast love of God
‣ says her love is present in everyday activities
⤷ narrator goes through all the ways she loves her partner – comparing her love to:
◦ Philosophy
◦ Religion
◦ Politics
‣ Poem concludes with narrator hoping that she will continue to love her partner, even after death
Subversion of Norms
‣ Unusual for a young middle-class woman to be a poet
‣ Sonnets are traditionally written as love poems - choice of form is not unusual
⤷ However her sonnet does not follow the rules of the form (women were usually silent)
⤷ Even though it seems to be expressing a perfect love, the poem’s form does not try to achieve perfection
‣ expresses female desire and longing in a very open and unashamed way - uncommon for the Victorian era
Selfless Love and devotion
‣ Browning asks for little in return
⤷ poem focuses entirely on how much she loves her partner, rather than what she gets from the relationship
‣ compares her love to selfless religious devotion (partner is her spiritual savior)
⤷ Uses religious imagery throughout the poem to show that she is entirely devoted to her lover
⤷ She does not present her love as perfect
◦ She still serves God - the line 'if God choose' shows that this love is not the same as her love of God
◦ Anaphora of 'I love thee' sounds almost like a prayer to her lover - shows that she is entirely
devoted to her partner
Female Desire
‣ Female desire is a topic that was taboo in the Victorian Era - Browning deals with it openly
‣ unashamed and open about her feelings - shown by her exclamation in the beginning - 'Let me count the ways.'
⤷ talks about deeply personal feelings - 'quiet need' for lover, loves him with 'passion' and 'childhood's faith'
‣ Form of the poem
⤷ Iambic pentameter and disruptive punctuation to mimic natural speech - creates a sense that the poem is a
passionate speech rather than a controlled love poem
◦ idea of love as powerful and all-encompassing; her love enables her to reach otherwise impossible
extremes. The speaker sees her love not as something tangible but instinctive or even spiritual
⤷ The first person language of the poem gives it a sense of intimacy
⤷ traditional form of love poetry - the sonnet - does not follow most of its rules:
◦ originally written by lovers to their unreachable mistresses- women would often be silent
◦ This poem gives the female perspective a voice - celebration of her love not a complaint about her
partner's lack of feeling.
‣ multifaceted presentation of love
⤷ Both sexual and innocent - Browning presents female desire as being just as complex as male desire
, Eternity
‣ believes that her love will live on after death
⤷ Barrett Browning was very religious, like most people in the 19th century
⤷ faith in God allows belief that her love can live on after death
◦ belief that her love is so strong that she believes it will outlive her body
‣ Overwhelming Love
⤷ She believes that her love is made up of 'Smiles, tears, of all her life'
⤷ The use of asyndeton presents her feelings as overwhelming
‣ The poem tracks the narrator's love over the course of her life
⤷ The octave (first eight lines) explores her love in general - an 'everyday...need' -This presents her love as
important to every part of her life
⤷ Sestet (last six lines) - more personal in her focus
◦ her love is made up of her childhood innocence ('old griefs')
◦ and her crises of faith in God ('lost saints')
◦ This shows that her love is complex and a key part of her experience - both good and bad
Key Quotes
‣ ‘How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.’ ‣ ‘Turn from praise’ ‘lost saints’
‣ ‘I love thee’ ‣ ‘Old griefs’ ‘childhood’s faith’
‣ ‘depth and breadth and height’ ‣ ‘breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life!’
‣ ‘Being and ideal Grace’ ‣ ‘If God choose, I shall but love thee better after
‣ ‘everyday’s/ most quiet need’ death’
‣ ‘Sun and candlelight’
, The Manhunt - Simon Armitage
Armitage explores a wife’s experience of her husband who has returned from war
Context
‣ Simon Armitage is a British poet
⤷ known for writing in colloquial language
‣ His poetry often deals with social issues - poem was part of a documentary about soldiers returning from war
‣ Written from perspective of Laura as she tries to understand her Husband, Eddie Beddoes
⤷ Peacekeeper in Bosnia
⤷ Discharged due to injury and depression
Summary
‣ First stanza recounts the first days and nights of the couples reunion
⤷ Compressed into two lines - surface level
‣ Rest of the poem focuses on the wife’s progression along her husband's body
⤷ explores new scars and changed aspects of his body
⤷ At first, poem seems to show that the wife is returning to state of intimacy - Later revealed that she may
never be able to understand how her partner has changed
⤷ As the poem progresses, these changes seem to be more mental than physical
‣ Armitage explores the impact of war on not just the returning soldiers, but their partners
‣ Poem is intimate and private, but ultimately reveals that the narrator may never truly understand what the soldier
has been through - they must now adapt to the new normal
Intimacy
‣ This is an extremely intimate poem that explores a couple trying to reconnect after trauma
⤷ The use of first person address creates private atmosphere
⤷ First person - intimacy and distance at the same time
⤷ First person also helps to create a divide between the narrator and her partner
◦ She cannot access his thoughts, so we as the reader also cannot hear them
‣ The narrator is exploring their partner’s body - trying to categorise all of the changes that war has brought
⤷ pairs of verbs like ‘handle and hold’ and ‘mind and attend’ to present the care and delicacy with which the
narrator is touching their husband’s body
⤷ The pairs of verbs present the patience of the narrator and the effort they are making
⤷ Makes the final conclusion that they can only ‘come close’ to understanding what the soldier has gone
through all the more tragic
Mental Instability
‣ The Manhunt deals with the impact of being in a war zone, both physically and mentally
‣ Machine imagery
⤷ Armitage uses metaphors that present the soldier's body as if it were a machine
◦ His shoulder is a ‘rudder’
◦ His lung is made of ‘parachute silk’
⤷ These dehumanise the soldier - as if war has made him into more of a machine than a person
⤷ The war imagery is used not only to describe his body as a machine, but also as if it is a warzone
◦ His mind has an ‘unexploded mine’ - suggests that the slightest change could set off an explosion
‣ Mental health
⤷ The potential instability of the narrator's partner gives the poem a dangerous edge
◦ reader is constantly aware that the soldier might fall apart
⤷ adds to the need for the narrator to take extra care not to set off the bomb
◦ took this long for partner to ‘let [them] trace’ the scars on his body - one wrong move could end
their returning intimacy
