A Stylistic Analysis of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee?

”
Jeremiah Z. Reston
Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education Major in English
University of Southeastern Philippines
Introduction
Reading poetry without putting your soul and mind in unison is like reading a text in a
language you barely even know. In order to fully understand poetry with great vigor one must
be equipped with tools and strategies in order to enhance their capabilities on understanding
thus making a stylistic analysis is one exercise. Comprehension also plays a big role in
understanding poetry or any form of literature. “Comprehension strategies are no more than
tools that readers employ in the service of constructing meaning from text” (Block and Pressley
2002).
Stylistic analysis holds a great deal in understanding a certain piece of literature. It also
enhances the skills of being investigative.
Initial Reading. My initial reading about this poem is that it talks about love, a love that
is present not only in a romantic relationship but also in a platonic relationship. The speaker
speaks about love in a superlative manner (L2-4) that she will love her beloved in every aspect
of her life. The speaker also tells us that she can love someone in a normal way, normal in the
sense of everyday simple living may it is in the morning till the evening (L5-6). It also talks
about how she choose to love a man with her own free-will, striving to do what is right without
the need of praise for it (L7-8). The innocence of the speaker’s faith is implied within the poem
itself, it talks heavily about loving by putting away the misery in the past and incorporating it to
love someone just how a child’s faith being put onto someone he/she admires (L 9-10). The
speaker also tells us that she loves her beloved the way she used to love the “lost saints” which
implies to those people we admire until we lose the admiration we put unto them (L11-12).
The speaker tells us that she loves her beloved in any emotional level may it is in sadness,
happiness, tragedy, etc. till the days of her life (L12-13). The speaker talks about how she will
love her beloved even after death if God let her, the kind of love that is much better when she
was still alive (L13-14).
The poem speaks about how the do the speaker love thee (beloved) and counted it in
11 ways in total. The attributes present in the poem of how does a person love is a simple
collection of attributes that is realistic and symbolic. The use of words in portraying the ways of
loving someone is superb, it also seem to present the religious background of the speaker by
the use of the word “saints” (L13). The poem does not imply that the ways of love is only
present within a romantic relationship thus it is considered as a poem talking love in general.
My initial reading shall be used as a hypothesis and is to be proved in the following
sections with sufficient proofs that will make this stylistic analysis correct. It will be later
compared with the stylistic reading, which will be presented in the conclusion section of this
paper.

Results and Discussion

Linguistic Features of Elizabeth Barret Browning’s “How Do I Love Thee?” (Sonnet 43)
 Phonetic Features.. The poem is a sonnet, a fourteen line rhymed lyric poem written in
iambic pentameter which makes the poem easily read as it follows the same natural rhythm of
the English language however the rhythm becomes stressed as it gives emphasis to a certain
passage by incorporating stops sounds of /θ/ and / t/ (L2). The poem is written with a rhyme
scheme of ABBA ABBA (L1-8) and CDC DCD (L9-14). The lines of the poem ends with a
monotonous tone which makes the poem sad-like to hear although it talks about love; this
would make the poem anti-climactic.
Grammatical Features. The poem has a complex way of incorporating different
grammatical features within the poem itself. The use of verbs and adjectives are dominant as
the poem talks about way of loving and describing them as phenomena that a normal person
can fathom. The verb love is linked to as many adjectives within the poem as the speaker
describes the different ways of how she loves her beloved.
The verb “love” is being described as an immeasurable act, it does portrays the
unending imagery of a line that stretches between the horizon and beyond (L1-2). The verb
“love” to be describe with the adjectives “freely” and “purely” which resembles to how the
speaker’s emotions being evoked by the rights of men and the purity of the heart’s ego towards
praises (L7-8). The verb “love” being described as an act of loving that what was seem lost
within the past was yet to be used as a foundation of commitment and faith thus having an
ironic approach (L11-12). The continuous use of adjectives as to describe the verb “love” with
the intent of letting the readers feel it the same way as the speaker intends to.
The way the speaker established the poem is escalating in which the speaker intends to
start to the spiritual level of loving to the physical down to the end of one’s life, this implies that
the poem although predominantly talks about love it does not only include romantic love but
also may include platonic love that a person may feel this are seen in sample lines below.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height (L2)
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight (L3)
I love thee freely, as men strive for right. (L7)
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. (L8)
I shall but love thee better after death. (L14)
The poem itself exposes its different paradoxes such questions like “How does one
love another when he/she dies” or “Is there life after death?” these paradoxes and other more
are what makes the poem interesting and more intriguing to read.
Semantic Features. The construction of the lines are well crafted especially in lines
number 7-10 which implies that the speaker loves her beloved the way men strive for every
right, the way people turn away from the praises of people to be pure, her passion of loving
despite the miserable past she experienced, and the love that was lost to the wrong person she
had admired in the past; restored and put to use. The poet narrates on how she does the act of
love towards her beloved, the lines 1-6 introduces us to the first part of how she does the act of
love by the immeasurable scale of depth and breadth and height of her soul can reach which is
unfathomable. The level of the speaker’s love is in still in accord to the norms of everyday’s to
which people around them still experiences.
 The poem is straightforward and it is easily read but it does not mean you need not
much deep understanding to it. The poem itself creates paradoxes in order for people to
experience such climactic cliffhanger.
Conclusion
Stylistic Analysis. My initial reading of the poem is to be proven by the segments above
this statement. My initial reading proves that I have thoroughly understood what I read and
what it meant. The proofs laid above are similar to my initial reading which makes this stylistic
analysis reliable and factual. However there are points within my initial reading that does not
prove anything such the portraying of platonic love within the poem itself, the poem sole
purpose is to narrate the ways of love in a romantic way, the same way how couples or married
people feel.
To my understanding the speaker’s attitude towards the readers is clear, she is here to
make it clear that her love for her beloved is plain but tremendous, tremendous in a sense of
immeasurable though no one can fathom such paradox such how can someone label it
immeasurable when this world comes with different methods and unit of measurement.
The end of the poem is when the speaker narrates of how she will love her beloved
even after death, the speaker does not reveal its identity however I have used the pronoun she
as it corresponds to the author Elizabeth Barrett-Browning herself. Even though the gender of
the speaker of the poem is not revealed it is safe to assume that the poem is intended for a
loved one whom you share the same affection.
In conclusion, the use of stylistic analysis to further understand and prove the
hypothesis made by me is useful and was productive to the actual outcome of it. This shall
strengthen the things that I have elaborated upon my initial reading.
 REFERENCES
Pressley, M. (2002). Effective Beginning Reading Instruction. Journal of Literacy
Research, 34(2), 165-188. doi:10.1207/s15548430jlr3402_3 . Retrieved November 4, 2018
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15548430jlr3402_3
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
(Sonnet 43): Section I (Lines 1-8) Summary. Retrieved November 5, 2018, from
https://www.shmoop.com/how-do-i-love-thee-sonnet-43/section-1-lines-1-8-summary.html
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
(Sonnet 43): Section II (Lines 9-14) Summary. Retrieved November 5, 2018, from
https://www.shmoop.com/how-do-i-love-thee-sonnet-43/section-2-lines-9-14-summary.html
Shmoop Editorial Team. (2008, November 11). How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
(Sonnet 43) Form and Meter. Retrieved November 5, 2018, from
https://www.shmoop.com/how-do-i-love-thee-sonnet-43/rhyme-form-meter.html
 APPENDIX A
Artifact of the Study

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning, (1806-1861)
1. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
2. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
3. My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
4. For the ends of being and ideal grace.
5. I love thee to the level of every day’s
6. Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
7. I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
8. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
9. I love thee with the passion put to use
10. In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
11. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
12. With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
13. Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
14. I shall but love thee better after death.