How do i love thee? analysis

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A flame of passion is contained within the heart, yet is love contained in a mere flame of passion? This rhetorical question enquires exactly that what Elizabeth Barrett Browning proves to be wrong; love is without boundaries and if god permits, the intensity of its flame will not be extinguished by death. ‘How do I love thee?’ is a sonnet portraying intense love as something which cannot be contained within the heart alone. Elizabeth Barrett Browning uses figurative language, imagery and diction and tone to portray intense love as something which cannot be contained with boundaries; neither physical nor spiritual. The use of other figurative language in Browning’s ‘How do I love thee?’ evokes a certain portrayal of intense love in the sonnet, and assists the reader in understanding the message of boundless love being sent. In line 2 and 3 Browning uses consonance to accentuate the lengths to which her soul will go to love ‘thee’; ‘... to the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach’. The enjambment of the sentence into line 3 gives an additional emphasis to the measures to which her love extends. In lines 7, 8, 9 and 10 Browning talks metaphorically of the ways in which she can love ‘thee’, using the exploration of her feelings as a basis for her views. By comparing her love to ‘men striv[ing] for right’ (7) Browning shows that her love is without obligation, without coercion by guilt or force, and just as men strive for right, she loves because it is necessary for her happiness. Continuing the metaphor, Browning states that she will ‘love thee purely, as [men] turn from praise,’ meaning that she will love for the sake of loving, and not to receive superficial praise from others. The use of alliteration is brought forth in lines 8 and 11 when Browning uses the words ‘ purely’ and ‘praise’ and ‘love’ and ‘lose’ in close context, emphasizing the love

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