Sonnets from the Portuguese

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781513267760
• eBook ISBN: 9781513272764
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Poetry
• Index: Literature

Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) is a collection of sonnets by English poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Written between 1845 and 1846, Sonnets from the Portuguese is a series of love poems written by Browning to her husband, the prominent Victorian poet Robert Browning. Although Elizabeth was initially unsure of the poems, Robert encouraged their publication, suggesting she title them to make readers believe they were translations and not personal declarations of love between the couple. Using the sonnet, Browning adopted a traditional form made famous by Shakespeare while staking a claim for herself as one of nineteenth century England's premier poets.

Filled with references to the Greek pastoral poet Theocritus and the tragic figure Electra, as well as invocations to God, Sonnets from the Portuguese immerses itself in biblical and classical tradition while remaining deeply personal and authentically romantic. Sonnet "XV" addresses the inherent tragedy of love, the depth of sadness with which a lover beholds another with "Too calm and sad a face, " overwhelmed with the knowledge that with love comes "the end of love, / Hearing oblivion beyond memory." In sonnet "XXVIII, " Browning reflects on the distance between lovers kept apart: all she has of him are her letters, "all dead paper, mute and white!" And yet, "they seem alive and quivering" in her "tremulous hands, " a living reminder of the man she longs to be with. "XLIII, " the most famous sonnet of the collection, begins "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways, " and records the poet's confession of a love more powerful than "the passion put to use / In [her] old griefs…" Not only has her lover brought her such joy, he has also given her a love she "seemed to lose / With [her] lost saints, " a love strong enough to transcend religious faith entirely, a love that is destined to last, and to be even "better after death."

With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• I. I thought once how Theocritus had sung
• II. But only three in all God’s universe
• III. Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!
• IV. Thou hast thy calling to some palace-floor
• V. I lift my heavy heart up solemnly
• VI. Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand
• VII. The face of all the world is changed, I think
• VIII. What can I give thee back, O liberal
• IX. Can it be right to give what I can give?
• X. Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed
• XI. And therefore if to love can be desert
• XII. Indeed this very love which is my boast
• XIII. And wilt thou have me fashion into speech
• XIV. If thou must love me, let it be for nought
• XV. Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear
• XVI. And yet, because thou overcomest so
• XVII. My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes
• XVIII. I never gave a lock of hair away
• XIX. The soul’s Rialto hath its merchandize
• XX. Belovëd, my Belovëd, when I think
• XXI. Say over again, and yet once over again
• XXII. When our two souls stand up erect and strong
• XXIII. Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead
• XXIV. Let the world’s sharpness like a clasping knife
• XXV. A heavy heart, Belovëd, have I borne
• XXVI. I lived with visions for my company
• XXVII. My own Belovëd, who hast lifted me
• XXVIII. My letters! all dead paper, mute and white!
• XXIX. I think of thee!—my thoughts do twine and bud
• XXX. I see thine image through my tears to-night
• XXXI. Thou comest! all is said without a word
• XXXII. The first time that the sun rose on thine oath
• XXXIII. Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear
• XXXIV. With the same heart, I said, I’ll answer thee
• XXXV. If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange
• XXXVI. When we met first and loved, I did not build
• XXXVII. Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make
• XXXVIII. First time he kissed me, he but only kissed
• XXXIX. Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace
• XL. Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!
• XLI. I thank all who have loved me in their hearts
• XLII. My future will not copy fair my past
• XLIII. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways
• XLIV. Belovëd, thou hast brought me many flowers
• A Note About the Author
• A Note from the Publisher