How Do I Love Thee, Browning

Patricia Young

David Ackerman

English 106

16 July 2008

In Elizabeth Barrett Brownings, “How Do I love Thee ?, Let Me Count the Ways”, She describes a pure, undying love. Browning begins this poem with a rhetorical question, “How Do I love Thee?” The speaker goes on to describe the numerous ways she loves the object of her passion. She describes her love as immeasurable, pure and everlasting. The repetition of the words, “I love Thee” which appear nine times in the sonnet add conviction to her expression of love. The tone of the poem conveys a romantic attitude that is joyous and filled with optimistic faith.

The first evidence of this romantic tone is found in line 1, “How Do I Love Thee? Let me count the ways.” This expresses to the reader that she loves in so many ways they need to be counted. When someone is in love they look at life through rose-colored glasses. Everything about the object of their desire is something to be adored. From the first line the reader is aware that the poem speaks of great love. Additional indication of this poems romantic tone continues in lines 2 and 3, “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height/My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight”. She describes her passion in terms of measurement. Mathematically, these terms of measurement; length, width and height represent a three dimensional object. I believe she is trying to make her love tangible so the reader can try to grasp the magnitude of her love. But by using the word “soul” in the third line it is clear that her love is boundless. Her love is both physical and spiritual. The physical aspects are conveyed through the terms of measurement and the spiritual through her reference to one’s soul. To further support the concept of romance Browning writes, “I love thee to the level of every day’s / most quiet need by sun and candlelight” (5-6). Here again Browning mentions measurement. She demonstrates the extent of her love by including it in her daily...