Welcome, all.

For the third-to-last sonnet that I will be sharing with you during National Poetry Month, I chose to read to you Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s classic Sonnet 43, “How Do I Love Thee?”

It’s such a simple poem that’s been parodied as much as it has been praised. As we have seen in so many of the sonnets that I have shared with you this month, the topic of love transcending an earthly experience is expressed in the final lines. This transcendence, I believe, is the true understanding of a greater love that reaches far beyond the limits of an earthly existence.

Enjoy… It’s one of my favorites. 🙂

Sonnet 43: “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.