Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sonnets from the Portuguese Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's classic collection of 44 love sonnets, beloved and immortalized over the centuries. The poems include her two most famous sonnets, numbers 33 and 43: Yes, call me by my pet name! let me hear, The name I used to run at, when a child, From innocent play, and leave the cowslips plied, To glance up in some face that proved me dear, With the look of its eyes. I miss the clear, Fond voices, which, being drawn and reconciled, Into the music of Heaven's undefiled, Call me no longer. Silence on the bier, While I call God-call God!-so let thy mouth, Be heir to those who are now exanimate; Gather the north flowers to complete the south, And catch the early love up in the late! Yes, call me by that name-and I, in truth, With the same heart, will answer and not wait.andHow 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 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.