sonnet 43

Question 1

sonnet 43 context

Answer 1

• Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s brother drowned at a young age and as a result her father was very over-protective. She eloped against his wishes with the poet, Robert Browning, showing how important love was to her.
• Elizabeth’s Barrett Browning’s father disinherited her after she married Robert Browning.

Question 2

sonnet 43 structure

Answer 2

repetition of ‘ I love thee. sounds similar to a prayer so therefore she could be praying/hoping that someday they will be able to be together.
• At the beginning of the poem she makes references to her love being limitless and she also reinforces this at the end in the last line ‘I shall but love thee more after death.’
• Sonnet 43 is the length of a traditional sonnet (I4 lines) but doesn’t follow the traditional sonnet rhyme scheme. There are rhyming couplets yet the poem avoids a perfect rhyme scheme. Perhaps this reflects their relationship - unconventional but with close unity.

Question 3

sonnet 43 3 point

Answer 3

vehicle to emphasise the extent to which she loves her partner by illustrating her love as all encompassing and infinite

vehicle to expand the scale of her love,elevating it to something immeasurable constant and in every corner of her daily life

vehicle to affirm loves immortality, portraying it as a lasting presence that will endure beyond death

Question 4

sonnet 43 at the opening of the poem quote 1

Answer 4

i love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach

hyperbole and spacial metaphor to emphasise the extent of her love
her love knows no boundaries, is infinite

Tricolon of half-rhymes
draws attention to units of measurement - irony, highlighting how love cannot be quantified.

Question 5

sonnet 43 at the opening of the poem quote 2

Answer 5

most quiet need by sun and candle night
candlelight represents the evening when the moon is out therefore using juxtaposition to reveal taht she needs him like she needs the sun
lexical field of brightness entails that his love lights up her life day and night

Question 6

sonnet 43 as the poem progresses quote 1

Answer 6

i love thee repetition

persistent anaphora that emphasises the strength of her feelings

Syntactic patterning of “I love thee…” makes the poem sound like a speech or a declaration. The prominent “|”, indicates a level of agency within the speaker - this an active engagement with love.

Question 7

sonnnet 43 as the poem progresses quote 2

Answer 7

in my old griefs and with my childhood faith

alludes to antithetical periods of a persons life however are placed within the same line. This connotes a level of transcendentalism- the narrators relationship transcends temporal limits

Question 8

sonnet 43 as the play comes to a close quote 1

Answer 8

smiles tears of all my life
juxtaposition of opposing emotions highlight speakers profound love by connecting positive and negative emotions. her love is not just a fleeting joy but a constant and complete part of her being, in both happiness and sorrow
attributes of human corporeal life
connoting a love devoted to speaker vitality
caesure enacts how death and transience interjects and may interrupt a relationship - love is affected by external factors beyond one’s control

Question 9

sonnet 43 as the poem comes to a close quote 2

Answer 9

i shall but love thee better after death

modal expresses definite affirmation of love- this final line means speakers relationship overcomes death and is immortal