Sonnet 43 Flashcards
(7 cards)
Structure of Sonnet 43
It is written in the sonnet form, emphasising her intense feelings of love and adoration.
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways”
Starts with a question, and we immediately are aware that we are being given a list.
Makes the reader sound methodical and more intense.
“I love thee to the depth and breadth and height”
This adoration takes over her soul, leaving no space for other emotions.
“I love thee with the passion put to use in my old griefs, and my childhood’s faith”
“with a love i seemed to lose with my lost saints”
Pain is put to use by him as her love for those who used to be important to her turn to a new, true love towards him.
“Smiles, tears, of all my life!”
She loves him eternally with every moment.
Mixture of positive and negative shows that she loves him with everything she has- it all links back to her love for him.
“if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death”
She hopes to love him perhaps more intensely than described, even after death as he references her clear faith in religion and God. Society was heavily religious in the 19th century.
Use of enjambment in Sonnet 43
Emphasises her passion and her overflow of love
