Sonnet 29- I think of thee ❤️🌴 Flashcards
‘my thoughts do twine ___ ___’ ‘About thee, as wild vines, around a tree’.
‘twine and bud’
L= Barrett browning develops an extended metaphor, using natural imagery- he is a tree and her thoughts about him is a vine.
- she compares her ‘straggling’ thoughts of her loved one, to vines ‘twine and bud’. This suggests her thoughts resolve around him. Furthermore, the use of the adjective suggests her thoughts are also lingering + difficult to control.
‘my thoughts do twine ___ ___’ ‘About thee, as wild vines, around a tree’.
L= twine-verb. Twine means to wrap around. One one level this is cerebral, but another level it suggests her physical desire to sexually entwine [with her loved one].
- use of exclamation mark shows depth of speaker’s feelings + may also appear defensive personals as if it is a response to a accusative letter.
- by directly addressing the poem at her loved one, it makes the poem a more intimate love poem, although it’s set up as a personal poem.
R= the reader is taken back by the speaker’s boldness to confess her thoughts.
‘my thoughts do twine ___ ___’ ‘About thee, as wild vines, around a tree’.
- In addition, the poem begins to come into a faster pace as the speaker’s passion takes control- hence the use of short clauses that are together.
- However one could argue that faster pace + short clauses imitates the ‘vines’ wrapping around the tree, which suggests it, her obsessive thoughts for him are difficult to stop- could suggest that the speaker is unable to control her affection because it’s too powerful.
‘my thoughts do twine ___ ___’ ‘About thee, as wild vines, around a tree’.
- use of natural imagery suggests that love is natural because vines are tree rely on each other, but alternatively, there is a sense of entrapment- it might suggest that the speaker is suffocating her loved one + killing the relationship by being the destructive ‘vine’.
This is because vines cause structural damage to the tree, as they grow on the tree- because vines glue theme selves to the bark of the tree as they climb up but that weight that is increased, can break branches.
‘my thoughts do twine ___ ___’ ‘About thee, as wild vines, around a tree’.
- Furthermore, vines capture more: snow, wind and ice which the tree is used to, which can lead to the tree toppling- is this metaphorically suggesting that there’s a hint/tone of the relationship being ruined by her.
- However a tree is a symbol of good health + positive energy and a symbol of immortality. Furthermore, as a tree grows old, it grows seeds that contain its essence, part of himself and because of this, the tree becomes immortal in this way.
‘my thoughts do twine ___ ___’ ‘About thee, as wild vines, around a tree’.
- A tree is also a symbol of strength and growth, which is contextually important because this could be a comparison of the two lovers due to her illness- does the speaker see herself as weak and him as stable who keeps the relationship stable.
my ‘palm-____’
‘my palm-tree’
L= metaphorically comparing her loved one to palm tree + by doing this, the speaker wishes for her lover not to be hidden and obscured by her fantasies as a palm tree has no branches and now where for vines to grow and flourish.
C= In the Bible, palm trees symbolise moral goodness + wisdom. Barrett-Browning was a devout Christian, hence her use of Christian symbolism.
‘And let these bands of greenery which insincere thee Drop heavily down,- burst shattered, everywhere’
- Could further suggests that she needs to break away from him, because she is destructive as she shackles him.
‘I do not think of thee-I am too near thee’
- The speaker is insisting that she won’t only have thoughts of her loved one because she will be ‘near thee’ she won’t need to rely on her obsessive thoughts and daydreams that obscure the reality of him.
R= after caesura, reader reminded that the speaker gets to be with him which is unconventional because a traditional sonnet was about unrequited love, not romantic love.
‘Rather_________’ ‘Renew ___ presence; as a ______ tree should’.
‘Rather instantly’
L= the Volta comes early on the word ‘rather’, where she commands her to love to be physically present. The verb renew means to resume an activity after it has been interrupted.
- ; renew also means to give fresh life to and to replace something that is broken- this links to references/imagery of the tree spreading and causes growth. The natural imagery B-B has deployed, it now becoming an extended metaphor that is developed in this poem
Fill in the gaps about the use of iambic pentameter in Sonnet 29:
Sonnet 29 use of iambic pentameter could suggest that her heart is longing + to an extent, unable to function completely without her loved one- especially when coupled with the punctuation.
Alternatively, it could also suggest the powerful love the speaker feels and may perhaps suggests that regardless of this forbidden relationship, she will endeavour/attempt to be with him.
Sonnet 29 use of iambic pentameter could suggest that her heart is longing + to an extent, unable to function completely without her loved one- especially when coupled with the punctuation.
Alternatively, it could also suggest the powerful love the speaker feels and may perhaps suggests that regardless of this forbidden relationship, she will endeavour/attempt to be with him.
‘the straggling green hides which hides the wood’
- vines on trees hide structural damage or an area that is decaying but over time, the decayed area will become weak- suggest her, and her thoughts are obscuring the reality of her loved one, which makes it difficult to see who he really is.
I= Alternatively, the vines are her thoughts because she can’t stop thinking about him. This is reinforced by the adjective ‘straggling’, suggesting that her thoughts are lingering and difficult to control.
‘Rustle thy boughs and set thy trunk all bare’
- imagery of one freeing themself, her one loved will be free, and bare and all the greenery and vines
- However this also has sexual connotations of being naked, as the speaker’s passion is extremely powerful once again.
- moreover, outer tree bark protects the whole from the potentially harsh cruel news of the world but on the inside, there’s an intricate and beautiful system of energetic flow- she needs his strength to renew her energy.
Fill in the gaps and give anaylsis: ‘a ___ air,’
‘a new air’
L= metaphorically breathing a new air as she now has a life with him.
C= The speaker’s desire reflects B-B to escape the claustrophobic life with her father
. [as this poem further reflects how difficult it was for her to see Robert Browning, due to her father’s oppression + how desperate she was to see him + be with him physically.]
I= alternately, shows how restrictive the traditional customs/behaviour of Victorian England were + illustrates how joyful the speaker feels to rid herself of what stood in her way to enable her to experience real love.
Fill in the gaps and give anaylsis: ‘______ ___ shadow’
‘within thy shadow’
I= alternative interpretation is that his shade/shadow is protective over her.
C= contextually important because, It reflects the way women were overshadowed by men in Victorian society. It’s also ironic because B-B was a more successful poet than her husband at the time.
