How do i love thee/Sonnet 130 Flashcards
(11 cards)
intro
How Do I Love Thee?
Sonnet 130
4 points
Both poems explore love in personal and honest ways.
Browning (Victorian era) presents love as deep and spiritual
Shakespeare (Elizabethan era) takes a more realistic and humorous approach.
“I love thee”
Anaphora
Browning repeats “I love thee” many times to show that her love is strong and steady. This repetition makes it clear that her feelings never change and that her love is constant and ongoing.
“soul can reach” / “ideal Grace”
Religious imagery
Browning uses these religious phrases to describe her love as something sacred and perfect. By comparing her feelings to spiritual ideas, she shows that her love is pure, deep, and something almost divine.
“How do I love thee?”
Rhetorical question
Browning begins her poem with this question to immediately show how deeply she is thinking about her love while capturing the reader’s attention
“black wires grow on her head”
Blunt imagery and caesura
Shakespeare describes his mistress’s hair in a very direct and unromantic way. The harsh image of “black wires” contrasts with idealised beauty. This creates a tone that is both funny and truthful.
“My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,”
Simile with satire
Shakespeare starts with this simile to purposely go against the usual romantic comparisons found in poetry. Instead of comparing his lover’s eyes to the bright sun, he says they are nothing like it. This mocks the typical exaggerated praise in love poems of his time, making fun of the cliché comparisons poets often used.
“sun and candlelight”
Juxtaposition
The poem contrasts “sun” with “candlelight” to show that love lasts through both big, joyful moments and smaller, difficult times. This comparison helps the reader understand that love is steady no matter what life brings.
“music hath a far more pleasing sound”
Irony and metaphor
Shakespeare ironically compares his mistress’s voice to music but admits that music sounds better. This metaphor honestly points out her flaws rather than pretending she is perfect. The use of irony makes the poem playful but sincere, creating a love that feels genuine and relatable.
“I shall but love thee better after death”
Hyperbole and religious symbolism
Browning ends the poem with this hyperbole to show that her love is so deep it will continue and even grow stronger after death. The religious symbolism suggests that their love is a divine gift from God.
It also connects to her personal experience, she had to hide her love from her strict father and even ran away to marry the man she loved.
“And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare / As any she belied with false compare.”
Rhyming couplet and oath
Shakespeare ends the poem with these two lines to firmly declare his belief that his love is just as special and rare as any exaggerated love described in other poems. By swearing “by heaven,” he emphasises the truthfulness of his feelings.
conclusion
2 points
Browning’s love is grand and eternal, while Shakespeare’s is grounded and realistic.
Even though their styles are different, they both show that…
