I have enjoyed reading the poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning the most so far. I am a typical girl that loves watching chick flicks and reading corny books, so reading about her love for her husband was really exciting for me. She truly deserved to find someone like Robert after the life that she had lived: she was very sick, her mother died, she was forced to leave her home, and then she had to live in seclusion for many years. When she met Robert, her life completely changed and it also had a very big impact on her writing.
The poem that really struck my eye was the “Sonnets from the Portuguese”. I really felt her love for this man through these sonnets and I felt like she was a lucky woman. All women dream about the time that they are going to meet the man of their dreams and I feel like Elizabeth really did. There were three of these sonnets that I enjoyed the most and they were the first, twenty first, and the thirty eighth.
I think that the first sonnet was expressing how she felt before she had the opportunity to meet this man. She was a woman growing up that desired love; however, she lived a very depressing life even though she was famous. For so many years she lived in seclusion due to her sickness and she said these were the “melancholy years”. She always felt like she was close to death but after meeting Robert she says, “Guess who holds thee? – Death, Not Death, but Love”. At this point of time, her life started to change for the better.
In sonnet 21, she seems to be acting like a giddy little girl in love. I do not think that she had ever really felt that loved and she has certainly never heard it before. “Say thou dost love me, love me, love me – toll/ The silver iterance”. All she wants is for Robert not only to tell her that he loves her but to also feel it.
The last sonnet that really caught my attention was the thirty eighth one. She can remember the exact times that she received her first kisses from him. The first kiss that she received from him was only on her hand, but she felt like it was the best kiss ever and see seemed utterly happy. “A ring amethyst/ I could not wear here, plainer to my sight,/ Than that first kiss”. This kiss actually meant more to her than having a beautiful ring on her finger. Since the second kiss was on her forehead, close to her hair, she compared it to wearing a crown. The last kiss was on her lips and she says “My love, my own”. Even though she felt amazing after the first two kisses, once she received the kiss on the lips, she knew that he was the one. Most people can tell if they are meant for each other from their first kiss, and I think this is an example of this.
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2 comments:
Nichole,
I am glad you enjoyed Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poems so much. You do a nice job here of analyzing them while also explaining their impact on you. That personal approach can be very effective, especially when you link it to specific passages in the text.
I liked your explanation of Sonnet 38 and about her first kisses with Robert. I laughed when I read the part where she would rather have the kiss on her hand than a ring. How many people would admit to that today? Haha. I also liked when you said,
"Even though she felt amazing after the first two kisses, once she received the kiss on the lips, she knew that he was the one."
I too agree that for some, the first kiss can tell you everything and let you know if that person is going to be the one. Nice approach on the poem and nice ideas.
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