Question

How do the speakers references to the "soul" and "ideal grace" in lines 3 and 4 of sonnet 43 by elizabeth barrett browning affect the way readers view the love between the speaker and her beloved?

Answer 1

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

The lines are open to two different interpretation. The heroine wants to show the extension of the feelings in her soul. At the same time, she demarcates the points of this extension limited by Being and Grace. The author describes the love in a "limited", but in a "logically limited" way.

Answer 2

It could be said that speakers used a spatial metaphor in order to portray love. It seems that love is a 3d substance filling the soul. Also, love is extended as her soul in many directions and it is even question whether the love and soul are the same thing. Then the speakers are trying to guess what feeling is and how far her soul can get into the world.