Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43?

Question

I'm quite familiar with Browning's beautiful "Sonnet 43", but I have a schoolwork question that's stumping me:

What does the definition of her love in Sonnet 43 suggest about the character of the person to whom the poet is speaking?

My only guess was that perhaps since emphasis is put on how and how much the poet adores their lover, the person being addressed in the poem had been in need of reassurance of this love (if that makes any sense).

I'd really appreciate anyone else's insights on this.

The poem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnets_from_the_Portuguese

Answer 1

Bijou,

I like your idea -- that the beloved is in need of reassurance. It's funny.

Here's another idea -- work with the notion that EVERYONE tailors their message to the person they're addressing ... let’s call this the Mack Daddy Theory of Interpersonal Communication.

So if I’m trying to chat a girl up, and I talk about how totally slammin’ hot she is, then my theory is that for this girl, being “totally slammin’ hot” is important.

On the other hand, if I’m chatting up another girl and I tell her how she seems different than every other girl I’ve ever met, how there seems to be a mysterious world of thought and feeling hidden beneath her surface, then I’m revealing my theory that for THIS girl, being intense and unique and mysterious is important.

In other words, the way I chat someone up REVEALS what I believe about them. (Another way to put this is: what type of person would this love poem WORK on? What type of person would this theory of love apply to?)

Okay, so NOW let’s assume that Elizabeth BB understand Robert B pretty well.

So the things she mentions MUST be important to him – in other words, she tailored her love poem to him – and its accompanying theory of love – reveals what she believes about his personality.

So this LOVE is what? High-minded, philosophical, dramatic and extreme, philosophical, strangely rational and almost utilitarian. This is not a mad passion, but a type of solemn and “freely chosen” embracing of another person.

And looky – the poem is beautiful, but it’s pretty devoid of sex, devoid of the physical, and certainly humorless. Probably lacks a certain playfulness.

In other words, the solemn, serious, thoughtful, idealistic, almost stately love that this poem puts forth CAN BE READ as a description of Robert Browning’s character … that’s the person this poem – this conception of love – would appeal to.

Dang, I am a veritable spelunker of the human heart, that crooked path.

Answer 2

Robert may be a little indifferent, not knowing the intense passionate love Lizzy feels for him.

The sonnet expresses the poet’s intense love for her husband-to-be, Robert Browning. So intense is her love for him, she says, that it rises to the spiritual level (Lines 3 and 4). She loves him freely, without coercion; she loves him purely, without expectation of personal gain. She even loves him with an intensity of the suffering (passion: Line 9) resembling that of Christ on the cross, and she loves him in the way that she loved saints as a child. Moreover, she expects to continue to love him after death.

good luck

Answer 3

Robert might additionally be somewhat indifferent, no longer understanding the extreme passionate love Lizzy feels for him. The sonnet expresses the poet’s extreme love for her husband-to-be, Robert Browning. So extreme is her love for him, she says, that it rises to the religious point (strains 3 and four). She loves him freely, with out coercion; she loves him basically, with out expectation of non-public gain. She even loves him with an intensity of the suffering (interest: Line 9) corresponding to that of Christ on the bypass, and he or she loves him in the ultimate way that she enjoyed saints as somewhat one. as properly, she expects to proceed to love him after loss of lifestyles. good fulfillment