5.5k views
3 votes
What specific images in Sonnet 43 support the idea that Browning loves her husband with her entire being?

User Taskinoor
by
8.6k points

2 Answers

4 votes

Your answer may note some or all of these images:

The poet uses images of dimensions to express the pervasive nature of her love: “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.”

Barrett Browning uses images that convey basic needs to impress that her love is like a necessity: “I love thee to the level of everyday's / Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.”

Barrett Browning uses images of abstract feelings to convey the sincerity and purity of her love: “I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; / I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.”

She uses images of implicit faith to convey the strength of her love: “I love thee with a love I seemed to lose / With my lost saints,--I love thee with the breath.”

She mentions old grief and childhood faith to imply the purity and intensity of sorrow and faith in childhood: “I love thee with the passion put to use / In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.”

User Brianandere
by
8.9k points
1 vote
Browning likens her love to be limitless, as she loves her husband to the reach of her soul; to be as passionate as someone who is fighting for their right - and again using the theme of 'passion' in the context of suffering; to contain blind faith as a child's.
User Arby
by
7.3k points