Sonnets from the Portuguese; A Celebration of Love
written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s most well known volume of poetry is this one. It isn't hard to see why. The greatest poems are the ones that carry the deepest emotions, and Elizabeth falls in love in these forty-four sonnets.
Elizabeth received her first letter from Robert Browning in 1945, the same time she began writing this volume. The letters between the two continued as she wrote this volume of poetry. Her first poems showed her trepidation towards having feelings for Robert. "Go from me. Yet I feel that I stand/ Henceforward in thy shadow"(VI lines 1-2) In the first fifteen poems her reluctance to trust this new man in her life seep through the pages. Each poem is written in sonnet form with a first person narrator speaking to a lover. Even though it is Elizabeth expressing herself to Robert it can apply to anyone. Reading through the poems I could feel the wide range of emotions tugging me through the book. They may be picked apart; standing as separate poems, but they fit together. These poems tell a love story better and more true than anything I have read in the past. It's easy to create a story of star-crossed lovers, but what Elizabeth has done is extraordinary. She has pinned down the path of love.
When dissecting a single poem, the reader can sometimes find a tone shift. In this volume of poetry there are tone shifts constantly, "The face of the world is changed, I think,"(VII line 1). As the poems progress, Elizabeth's trust and love of Robert grows. This volume is a romantic achievement. The reader will be pleased to know that this love story had a happy ending. Elizabeth and Robert married in the year 1846. This volume is titled Sonnets from the Portuguese, not because of culture, but because Robert's pet name for Elizabeth was his "little Portuguese" because of her olive skin tone. Even through these poems are impactful on their own, these poems should be read all together to really see the big picture. The best part of this book is that in 1849 Elizabeth Browning gave this volume to Robert as a gift and as proof of her love. He said that they were, "finest sonnets written in any language since Shakespeare". I agree.
XIV
If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love's sake only. Do not say
I love her for her smile ... her look ... her way
Of speaking gently, ... for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a day'—
For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may
Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love's sake, that evermore
Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.
