Sonnets from the Portuguese and Other Love Poems

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sonnets from the Portuguese and Other Love Poems

Genres: Poetry

Hardcover

About the author

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most respected poets of the Victorian era.

Born in County Durham, the eldest of 12 children, Browning was educated at home. She wrote poetry from around the age of six and this was compiled by her mother, comprising what is now one of the largest collections extant of juvenilia by any English writer. At 15 Browning became ill, suffering from intense head and spinal pain for the rest of her life, rendering her frail. She took laudanum for the pain, which may have led to a lifelong addiction and contributed to her weak health.

In the 1830s Barrett's cousin John Kenyon introduced her to prominent literary figures of the day such as William Wordsworth, Mary Russell Mitford, Samuel Taylor Coleridge; Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and Thomas Carlyle. Browning's first adult collection The Seraphim and Other Poems was published in 1838. During this time she contracted a disease, possibly tuberculosis, which weakened her further. Living at Wimpole Street, in London, Browning wrote prolifically between 1841 and 1844, producing poetry, translation and prose. She campaigned for the abolition of slavery and her work helped influence reform in child labour legislation. Her prolific output made her a rival to Tennyson as a candidate for poet laureate on the death of Wordsworth.

Browning's volume Poems (1844) brought her great success. During this time she met and corresponded with the writer Robert Browning, who admired her work. The courtship and marriage between the two were carried out in secret, for fear of her father's disapproval. Following the wedding she was disinherited by her father and rejected by her brothers. The couple moved to Italy in 1846, where she would live for the rest of her life. They had one son, Robert Barrett Browning, whom they called Pen. Towards the end of her life, her lung function worsened, and she died in Florence in 1861. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband shortly after her death.

Browning was brought up in a strongly religious household, and much of her work carries a Christian theme. Her work had a major influence on prominent writers of the day, including the American poets Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson. She is remembered for such poems as "How Do I Love Thee?" (Sonnet 43, 1845) and Aurora Leigh (1856).

Reviews

[sologdin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This sonnet sequence is the origin of the very famous 'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways' language (sonnet XLIII). One can feel the renaissance sonneteer roots in these, which come across as innocent to me even if the fairly awesome illustrations are somewhat racier in the artist's interpretation.

I think my favorite is sonnet XIV, which reads like an answer to Othello's recollection of Desdemona's affection for him:

Neither love me for
Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry--
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby.

A record of the lover's "unaverred / yet prodigal inward joy" (XXXI) concerning the beloved. Overall pretty great, the sonnet sequence. The other love poems appended to the sonnets were varying in impact for me. Top of the list is the concluding piece, 'A Dead Rose,' a meditation on essence and appearance, noumena and phenomena.

Recommended for dull atheists who cannot guess God's presence out of sight (XX).

[Sami Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

At some point, I just started collecting copies of Sonnets from the Portuguese because they’re always so gorgeous and I cannot resist whenever I come across a new illustrated edition in a used book store. This copy is no exception - I rescued it from Iliad Books and when I read the inscription I knew I had to take it home with me. Reading it this time around, I came up with my new favorite conspiracy theory — Phoebe Waller Bridge came up with “it’ll pass” after reading Sonnet IX.

Anyway, I’m a sucker for a good inscription in a used book and this one was perfect. “Marian — to the month just ended — and the months and months to come. Always, Joel (4/22/66)”. So… if you know what happened to Marian and Joel, please let me know!

[Conrad George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Browning’s sonnets are so eloquently and passionately written, that one cannot help but become enraptured. The sonnets, and my personal favourite poem “Catarina to Camoens”, are quite possibly the most enthralling poetry I have ever read.

[Anne DiLorenzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

For live poems there is an awful lot of focus on death. They are beautiful and have a nice flow but, still a little depressing.