Sonnets from the Portuguese

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth was initially hesitant to publish the poems, believing they were too personal. However, her husband insisted they were the best sequence of English-language sonnets since Shakespeare's time and urged her to publish them. To offer the couple some privacy, she decided to publish them as if they were translations of foreign sonnets.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Interactive Media
• Release date: Jun 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9781911495208

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the foremost poets of the nineteenth century, perhaps best known for her verse epic Aurora Leigh.

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Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sonnets from the Portuguese

New Edition

LONDON ∙ NEW YORK ∙ TORONTO ∙ SAO PAULO ∙ MOSCOW

PARIS ∙ MADRID ∙ BERLIN ∙ ROME ∙ MEXICO CITY ∙ MUMBAI ∙ SEOUL ∙ DOHA

TOKYO ∙ SYDNEY ∙ CAPE TOWN ∙ AUCKLAND ∙ BEIJING

New Edition

Published by Egoist Press

[e-mail]

www.egoist-press.co.uk

This Edition

First published in 2016

Copyright © 2016 Egoist Press

All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9781911495208

Contents

SONNETS

SONNETS

I

I thought once how Theocritus had sung

Of the sweet years, the dear and wished-for years,

Who each one in a gracious hand appears

To bear a gift for mortals, old or young:

And, as I mused it in his antique tongue,

I saw, in gradual vision through my tears,

The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,

Those of my own life, who by turns had flung

A shadow across me. Straightway I was ’ware,

So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move

Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair;

And a voice said in mastery, while I strove,—

Guess now who holds thee!—Death, I said, But, there,

The silver answer rang, Not Death, but Love.

II

But only three in all God’s universe

Have heard this word thou hast said,—Himself, beside

Thee speaking, and me listening! and replied

One of us . . . that was God, . . .

Reviews for Sonnets from the Portuguese

[mamashepp · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I must say that I was slow to warm up to the poems and don't think I would have liked them as well without having read the Introduction first. Lovely, very personal. You can really see the path of the love affair between EBB and Robert Browning.

[justicefortibet_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Receiving this as a gift on my 18th birthday from my best friend was one of my "Coming of Age" moments. It opened a wonderful world of being able to express all of those emotions that were inundating me, mentally and physically. I can never thank her enough.

[elpaca · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

First book gift I gave to Mike. After 28 years, still sits on his night stand.n yes, he reads it. Occasionally.

[thornton37814 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As I read this slim volume of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnets, I thought, "They don't write them like they used to." Browning's sonnets thrill readers with the language of another time and place but show her feelings and thoughts on love and also express her faith. The font on the volume I read was "set up by hand in Goudy Mediaeval type by Arthur and Edna Rushmore at The Golden Hind Press in Madison, New Jersey. Mxmxxxii." The font was as elegant as the poetry!

[varwenea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Despite a strong recommendation from a dear friend whose taste in books I respect greatly, I resisted reading Victorian English poetry, insisting I would never understand it. My resistance weaned, and I am glad for it. This utterly charming set of poetry is heartfelt and uplifting, and I find myself rooting for their love and for Elizabeth Barrett Browning herself. My only wish was for Elizabeth to have lived longer than her 55 years. But to have loved brilliantly for even only 15 years till a person’s end is still more than anyone can hope for. This set of highly personal poetry, written by Elizabeth throughout her courtship with Robert Browning, which began in 1845, eloped in 1846, was gifted to him in 1849. The uniqueness in their relationship drove this set of sonnets to be particularly celebratory. She was an accomplished poet with published works (early career woman), older than him by 6 years (unusual then), she was age 39 when they met (finding love late in life), she was an invalid (shame, feeling inadequate). He courted her for her and the beauty of her poetry, appreciating her mind and her as a person, which is always the best basis to start any relationship. She had great hesitations, partly due to feeling that she doesn’t measure up and some influence from her family, deeming him to be a gold digger. In the end, their love flourished, and we, the readers, are blessed to have this set of sonnets that remind us what Love is really about – all-encompassing, unconditional, whole-heartedly, with acceptance. ♥Quotes (abbreviated):Sonnet I: Her hope for love, but hope lost, given up.The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,Those of my own life,………“Guess now who holds thee!” --- “Death” I said.But thereThe silver anaswer rang, --- “Not Death, but Love” Sonnet VII: To be in love, surprised, and her world changing on account of it. (It’s such a beautiful new experience for her.)…………, where I, who thought to sink,Was caught up into love,………And this… this lute and song… love yesterday,(The singing angels know) are only dearBecause thy name moves right in what they say.Sonnet VIII: Feeling inadequate in the relationship. (To me, this is such a classic amongst even solid relationships, doubting oneself, constantly wondering if you measure up, despite how much love is flowing both ways.)What can I give thee back, O liberalAnd princely giver, who hast brought the gold and purple of thine heart…………… am I cold,Ungrateful, that for these most manifoldHigh gifts, I render nothing back at all?No so; not cold, ---- but very poor instead.Sonnet X: Burning with Love. She is enthralled, enraptured, consumed with love. Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeedAnd worthy of acceptation…………And love is fire. And when I say at needI love thee… mark!... I love thee – in thy sightI stand transfigured…………Sonnet XIV: She asked to be loved, simply for love’s sake and not for anything that may change or out of pity. (I find this to be such a logical and basic thought that doesn’t seem to be considered much.) If thou must love me, let it be for noughtExcept for love’s sake only. Do not say“I love her for her smile ---her look---her wayOf speaking gently,………”For these things in themselves, Beloved, may Be changed, or change for thee,………………….Neither love me forThine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry,---………But love me for love’s sake, that evermoreThou may’st love on, through love’s eternity.Sonnet XX: She has doubts and wants reassurance. (I am guilty of requiring reassurance. Perhaps guilty is too strong a word. I simply believe that every relationship should have continued reassurance. No man or woman should be made to assume they are loved while drudging through the stress of daily life, and some times, shamed for wanting assurance. It should be freely given, via a gentle touch, a kind smile, a twinkle in your eyes.) Say over again, and yet once over again,That thou dost love me…………Beloved, I, amid the darkness greetedBy a doubtful spirit – voice, in that doubt’s painCry, “Speak once more---thou lovest!”………Say thou dost love me, love me, love me---tollThe silver iterance!---only minding, Dear,To love me also in silence with thy soul.Sonnet XXXVIII: She writes of the first kiss, the second kiss, the third kiss. (The beauty of increasing passion between two lovers…)First time he kissed me, he but only kissed The fingers of this hand wherewith I write;………………….The second passed in heightThe frist, and sought the forehead, and half missed,Half falling on the hair…………The third upon my lips was folded downIn perfect, purple state; since when, indeed,I have been proud and said, “My love, my own.”Sonnet XXXIX, in its entirety: To be accepted for who she is, she expresses gratitude. (This is easily the most powerful sonnet, despite the popularity of ‘how do I love thee, let me count the ways’. There is not a single person who does not desire to be accepted for who he/she is. To have found that lover/mate/partner in life is a treasure that ought to be celebrated.)Because thou hast the power and own’st the graceTo look through and behind this mask of me,(Against which, years have beat thus blanchinglyWith their rains,) and behold my soul’s true face,The dim and weary witness of life’s race, -Because thou hast the faith and love to see,Through that same soul’s distracting lethargy,The patient angel waiting for a placeIn the new Heavens, - because nor sin nor woe,Nor God’s infliction, nor death’s neighborhood,Nor all which other’s viewing, turn to go,Nor all which makes me tired of all, self-viewed, -Nothing repels thee … Dearest, teach me soTo pour gratitude, as thou dost, good!Sonnet XLII: She starts a new future, gladly. (Such a powerful conviction and will to know this is what she wants, especially in light that her father has disowned her and her family has abandoned her due to her marriage.) My future will not copy fair my past---I wrote that once; and thinking at my sideMy ministering life………I seek no copy now of life’s first half:Leave here the pages with long musing curled,And write me new my future’s epigraph,New angel mine, unhoped for in the world!Sonnet XLIII, in its entirety: The most famous – to have love that is complete, free, pure, passionate, and also enduring even after death.How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of Being and ideal Grace.I love thee to the level of everyday’sMost 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 useIn my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.I love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith 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.

[michael5rimmer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I had not expected this collection of love poems to be so melancholic. Although a degree of self-doubt and uncertainty goes along with any lovers thoughts, the tone here is of such low self-esteem, such self-recrimination that it strikes me that the poet was suffering from depression. But through the darkness, there are sparks of hope, that maybe love will come, will be true and will rescue.In the end, the poet is redeemed and transformed by love, but it seems to have been a close-run thing.There's such beautiful imagery in every poem that it's almost impossible to select one out above the others, but I particularly like Sonnet V:I lift my heavy heart up solemnly,As one Electra her sepulchral urn,And, looking in thine eyes, I overturnThe ashes at thy feet. Behold and seeWhat a great heap of grief lay hid in me,And how the red wild sparkles dimly burnThrough the ashen greyness. If thy foot in scornCould tread them out to darkness utterly,It might be well perhaps. But if insteadThou wait beside me for the wind to blowThe grey dust up,...those laurels on thine head,O my Belovëd, will not shield thee so,That none of all the fires shall scorch and shredThe hair beneath. Stand further off then! go!