ELIZABETH BARRET BROWNING

SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE

1850

VII

Move still, oh, still, beside me, as they stole 

Betwixt me and the dreadful outer brink 

Of obvious death, where I, who thought to sink, 

Was caught up into love, and taught the whole 

Of life in a new rhythm. The cup of dole 

God gave for baptism, I am fain to drink, 

And praise its sweetness, Sweet, with thee anear. 

The names of country, heaven, are changed away 

For where thou art or shalt be, there or here; 

And this . . . this lute and song . . . loved yesterday, 

(The singing angels know) are only dear 

Because thy name moves right in what they say.

VIII

And purple of thine heart, unstained, untold, 

And laid them on the outside of the wall 

For such as I to take or leave withal, 

In unexpected largesse?am I cold, 

Ungrateful, that for these most manifold

High gifts, I render nothing back at all? 

Not so; not cold,--but very poor instead. 

Ask God who knows. For frequent tears have run 

The colours from my life, and left so dead 

And pale a stuff, it were not fitly done 

To give the same as pillow to thy head.

Go farther!let it serve to trample on. 

<(URL: http://members.aol.com/ericblomqu/brownine.htm#007 )>

These two sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning are from “Sonnets from the Portuguese”. I have chosen these sonnets because apart from the poem entirely is a very good love poem, in these sonnets particularly her author talks about an important moment in her life and how her “lover” helped her. In the Victorian era the social classes were an essential mark for the social relations, business and above all to establish marital relations. In the case of the Barretts they were a middle class family; they had twelve children and Elizabeth was the oldest one.But political situation of the country changed to worse as there also changed the economic situation of the Barretts. In those moments the family was a real chaos because Elizabeth father, Edward, had to go to London to protect their business, Elizabeth mother, Mary, was always pregnant and she had no time to take care of Elizabeth. Because of all that loneliness, loss and frustration perhaps predisposed her to physical illness; first a virus infection, then measles and spasms of pain and fever. She recovered after more than a year, but she was never again in robust health. Elizabeth wrote this poem in 1850, and it was dedicated to her lover and husband Robert Browning. Their love story began in 1945, since this day Elizabeth was in love with Robert. In those days her illness was killing Elizabeth and it leaves her semi-invalid but Robert Browning was allowed to visit her sick room and he fell in love with her. When they got married Elizabeth health was better.<(http://www3.baylor.edu/abl/ebrowning.htm)>

This love was not allowed between Elizabeth parents because in Victorian era the majority of marriages were of convenience. And above all when one of those families was in bad economic situation (Barretts one).

For the Victorians it was appropriate for women writers writing sonnets because they express feelings of love and sensibility. In Victorian era women were not allowed to express their own opinions about economy, work and above all about their love and feelings, then they used poetry in concrete to express all their thoughts and feelings which they couldn’t express in real life.<(http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/womlitov.html)>

For example “Sonnets from the Portuguese”, as I have said before, are dedicated to Elizabeth husband, Robert, whose love at first was forbidden. Elizabeth uses this poem to express all love that she felt to Robert and all love that she can’t express in her daily life.In the Victorian period the women writers had many problems to write because nobody wanted to publish their works, sometimes women’s works were published with the name of her father or brother. Women writers were capable enough to publish their own works but it would make them to lose their social prestige. Writing was considered a men’s world and it was said that if a woman arrived at the men’s world, she would lose her femininity. Only when the women’s work became successful works, the name of the woman was revealed. 
 
 

In this period, women writers had a lot of difficulties, and sometimes in the prologues women excused for writing. But fortunately Elizabeth Browning had not to do this because she was a middle class woman and she had the necessary social prestige to publish her own works.
 
 

In the first sonnet Elizabeth clearly express what she wants to say. At first she names the “death” (line 5), she reflects her loss of living hope before meet Robert. She reflects this idea mainly in the rest of the poem. But there is a particularity because in the poem she does not name any personal name in concrete, she is referring to her lover or husband but we only know it by her allusions in the poem, not because she say the real name of her addressee for example lines 2-3 “Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul Move still, oh, still, beside me, as they stole…”. In this first sonnet she also makes a comparison before and later to meet him; in line 5 “Of obvious death” and in line 7 “Of life in a new rhythm”. She wants to say that before to meet him she could see her nearly death (her illness) and then, she has proved that their love has increased her life. In the end of the sonnet she summarizes the principal idea that she wants to explain in all sonnet “And this… this lute and song… loved yesterday, (The singing angels know) are only dear because thy name moves right in what they say”.
 

The second sonnet mainly is the same as the first one, but she does not use words related to death, it is based on describing Robert and all gifts that he has brought her; lines 2-3 “And princely giver, who hast brought the gold and purple of thine heart, unstained, untold…”.

In my opinion the most important idea that the poetesses wants to say is the comparison between before and later meeting Robert. She talks about death to refer to her illness and also to refer to her absence of love before meeting him. Browning also reflects the changes that Robert has produced in her and we can observe the importance of love in a person, mainly in such situation of illness. These sonnets are beautiful when in the end you understand the idea and you know something about Elizabeth story.
 
 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Elizabeth Barret Browning Biography, www3.baylor.edu, last visited 12^th August 2006,<(http://www3.baylor.edu/abl/ebrowning.htm)>

Women in literature, A literary overview, www.victorianweb.org, EdElizabeth Lee, last visited 12^th August 2006.<(http://www.victorianweb.org/gender/womlitov.html)>
 
 

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