{"id":388,"date":"2023-04-01T02:16:28","date_gmt":"2023-04-01T02:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/?p=388"},"modified":"2023-04-17T13:24:45","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T13:24:45","slug":"the-burden-of-love-a-close-reading-of-sonnets-from-the-portuguese-xii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/2023\/04\/01\/the-burden-of-love-a-close-reading-of-sonnets-from-the-portuguese-xii\/","title":{"rendered":"The Burden of Love: A Close Reading of Sonnets from the Portuguese: XII"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s\u00a0Sonnets from the Portuguese: XII,\u00a0<\/em>Browing confronts a multitude of topics surrounding love, whether relevant to her time or timeless abstract concepts that one must approach when in love. Throughout this sonnet, there is ultimately a double meaning between what the author describes as the consequences, or effects of love, treading between the concept of the objectification of women in relation to their husbands, and the burden of feeling the strong emotions evoked through falling in love. As the sonnet begins, reading:<\/p>\n

“Indeed this very love which is my boast,
\nAnd which, when rising up from breast to brow,
\nDoth crown me with a ruby large enow
\nTo draw men’s eyes and prove the inner cost”
\nThis love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,” (Barrett Browning 1-5).<\/p>\n

Whilst later going on to say, “Hadst set an me an example, shown me how” (Barrett Browning 7). The author is commentating on finding love through societal status, through material objects such as “a ruby large enow to draw men’s eyes”, along with abstract concepts or terms such as “boast”, “cost”, and “worth”. Through these terms, and writing, “prove the inner cost” the author is expressing the concept of finding love as a women, love that illustrates itself in as one’s “worth” is something to “prove”.<\/p>\n

This concept is maintained throughout the sonnet as later the author goes on to write: “Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weak,\/ And placed it by thee on a golden throne” (Barrett Browning 11-12). In saying, “thy soul hath snatched up mine”, the author is implying that for a woman, love manifests itself in women being an object for men to “snatch” or attain; women being an object of desire.<\/p>\n

While this was one reading I took from this sonnet, another is more expressive of the burdens that love provides in manifesting strong emotions. Rather than a commentary on materialism or objectification, the author could be using the “ruby large enow to draw men’s eyes” as a metaphor for the heart, as they are both red, and between the “breast and brow.” When the author writes, “And thus, I cannot speak\/ Of love even, as a good thing of my own:\/ Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weak,\/ And placed it by thee on a golden throne” (Barrett Browning 9-12), while expressing that love is not “a good thing of my own”, it is explained in that the author’s soul was “faint and weak.” The faint and weakness of the author’s soul could be representative of the strong emotional connection towards whom the author is in love with, and that their soul being “snatched” is not necessarily an action of their partner, but the strong emotions of the author that has fallen in love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s\u00a0Sonnets from the Portuguese: XII,\u00a0Browing confronts a multitude of topics surrounding love, whether relevant to her time or timeless abstract concepts that one must approach when in love. Throughout this sonnet, there is ultimately a double meaning between what the author describes as the consequences, or effects of love, treading between the … Continue reading The Burden of Love: A Close Reading of Sonnets from the Portuguese: XII<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2023"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}