English Poem: How do I love thee

Title: How do I love thee
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
from Sonnets from the Portuguese

XLIII

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men might strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,–I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!–and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.




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The forty-four poems that became Sonnets from the Portuguese were written by the future Mrs. Browning between 1845 and 1846 while she was being courted by Robert Browning. They were first published in 1850 in her Poems with the 1856 edition containing most of the desired revisions and corrections. (A supposed 1847 edition of the Sonnets by themselves was later proven a hoax.)
It is thought that the title was meant to shroud some of the personal nature of the poems by implying they were a translation of an older work. The link between the contents of these poems and her correspondance with Robert are detailed in the introduction to Dow's edition. Harmon notes that the title Sonnets Translated from the Bosnian was also considered.


Sonnett XLIII can be found, for example, in:

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. A Variorum Edition of Elizabeth Barrett Browning Sonnets from the Portuguese. Miroslava Wein Dow, ed. Troy, NY: The Whitston Publishing Company, 1980.
Harmon, William, ed. The Classic Hundred Poems (Second Edition). New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.

【詩後的故事】作者ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING[伊麗莎白·巴雷特·勃朗寧]於公元1806年出生在達翰姆（英格蘭北部一郡）。1838年，她出版了《撒拉弗和其它詩篇》[撒拉佛——六翼天使(九級天使中地位最高者)，又稱：熾愛天使]。1843年，由於當時英國的最高統治者是女性，伊麗莎白於國家詩人的提名得到了更加廣泛的支持。結果很不幸，她輸給了威廉·華茲華斯--同一時代的另一位偉大詩人[有機會筆者會撰文介紹此人]。此後不久，伊利沙白與羅伯特·勃朗寧——另一位有才華的詩人，結婚了。然而，伊麗莎白的父親，卻不同意這場婚事。於是，這對情侶決定出逃。並由此，引發了一場浪漫的婚姻。伊麗莎白與羅伯特·勃朗寧準備各自出發，逃往意大利，並在比薩會合，去繼續他們的生活。他們成功了。三年後，即1849年，他們已在意大利中部的佛羅倫薩定居。一日，伊麗莎白送給她的丈夫一件珍貴的禮物——44首她為丈夫寫的十四行詩，裏麵有開始時的懷疑，與家庭抗爭的恐懼，與愛人的甜蜜，及最終愛的勝利的喜悅。同年，他們唯一的男孩出生了。一年後，即1850年，勃朗寧夫婦出版了那44首詩，但做了些偽裝。他們用“葡萄牙十四行詩集”為這44首詩命名。如此一來，讀者便會接受這些詩是由葡萄牙語翻譯過來的的暗示。於是，我們今天可以看到如此表達真愛和深愛的詩句。伊麗莎白的浪漫婚姻促成了她的，也是整個維多利亞時代的，最美麗的愛情商籟體詩。