Barrett Browning Sonnet
Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnet 1
Theme: Unexpectedness of love
Falling in love with Robert and his returning of her love came as a great surprise to Elizabeth, considering past her circumstances.
Analysis:
Reworks the traditional sonnet sequence by transforming gender roles. She utilises the female voice instead of the traditional male voice. She assumes the role of epic hero.
She adopts the petrachan sonnet style. The octet’s strict rhyming pattern reflects how she feels her life has been static so far.
The sestet’s alternating near rhymes modulate from ‘move’ to ‘strove’ to ‘love’ reflecting gradual emotional and spiritual movement as a result of discovering this unexpected love.
The distortion of iambic pentameter reflects …show more content…
‘Hold the torch out where the words are rough/ between our faces, to cast a light on each?..’ The torch and light here can symbolise illumination, exposure or disclosure and hence the revelation of their love to others, which EBB is afraid of as it will allow them to be criticised by others. In these lines EBB is also creating a drama of epic significance. The flaming torches allude to classical drama.
She is also the one in control as she is the torch bearer, which again subverts the traditional notion of the submissive woman in Petrarchan poetry. The metaphor “where the words are rough” suggests the external forces that make it difficult to her express her love publicly, possibly a reference to her father’s opposition.
“I drop it at thy feet’. Cleverly denounces her previous image of power and control by submitting humbly to him. The use of the verb drop suggests her inability to effectively be a torchbearer and consequently she reveals to him that she in unable to effectively communicate her love to him in her writing, ‘I cannot teach my hand to hold my spirit so far off/From myself..me.’ The high modality reflects her inability to do …show more content…
Biblical allusion Isaiah 40:4 ‘Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. This suggests how everything will be complete and perfect when he repeats his love for her.
Plains-symbol of space and boundless earth. Horizontal and opposed to the vertical hill.
Valley-symbolic complement of a mountain. Eg yin (valley) and yang (Mountain). Commonly a symbol of fertility and life. Valley is also a Biblical allusion to Psalm 23:4‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me (lots of sexual connotations here!)
Wood- Symbolises superhuman wisdom and knowledge. The carpenter uses tools symbolic of the divine power of bringing order out of
Theme: Unexpectedness of love
Falling in love with Robert and his returning of her love came as a great surprise to Elizabeth, considering past her circumstances.
Analysis:
Reworks the traditional sonnet sequence by transforming gender roles. She utilises the female voice instead of the traditional male voice. She assumes the role of epic hero.
She adopts the petrachan sonnet style. The octet’s strict rhyming pattern reflects how she feels her life has been static so far.
The sestet’s alternating near rhymes modulate from ‘move’ to ‘strove’ to ‘love’ reflecting gradual emotional and spiritual movement as a result of discovering this unexpected love.
The distortion of iambic pentameter reflects …show more content…
‘Hold the torch out where the words are rough/ between our faces, to cast a light on each?..’ The torch and light here can symbolise illumination, exposure or disclosure and hence the revelation of their love to others, which EBB is afraid of as it will allow them to be criticised by others. In these lines EBB is also creating a drama of epic significance. The flaming torches allude to classical drama.
She is also the one in control as she is the torch bearer, which again subverts the traditional notion of the submissive woman in Petrarchan poetry. The metaphor “where the words are rough” suggests the external forces that make it difficult to her express her love publicly, possibly a reference to her father’s opposition.
“I drop it at thy feet’. Cleverly denounces her previous image of power and control by submitting humbly to him. The use of the verb drop suggests her inability to effectively be a torchbearer and consequently she reveals to him that she in unable to effectively communicate her love to him in her writing, ‘I cannot teach my hand to hold my spirit so far off/From myself..me.’ The high modality reflects her inability to do …show more content…
Biblical allusion Isaiah 40:4 ‘Every valley shall be raised, and every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. This suggests how everything will be complete and perfect when he repeats his love for her.
Plains-symbol of space and boundless earth. Horizontal and opposed to the vertical hill.
Valley-symbolic complement of a mountain. Eg yin (valley) and yang (Mountain). Commonly a symbol of fertility and life. Valley is also a Biblical allusion to Psalm 23:4‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me (lots of sexual connotations here!)
Wood- Symbolises superhuman wisdom and knowledge. The carpenter uses tools symbolic of the divine power of bringing order out of