How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways Analysis

How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count The Ways
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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 every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
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.

Summary of How do I love you? Let Me Count The Ways
Popularity of “How Do I Love You”: Also known as “Portuguese Sonnets 43: How Do I Love You?” Was written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a great poet of The Victorian Era. "How I love you" is a famous love poem and was first published in 1850 in a collection of sonnets from the Portuguese. The poem is about the passionate adoration of her beloved by the speaker with vivid images of her eternal bond, even after death she will keep in touch with her beloved.
"How do I love you?" Love goes, counts the speaker as she worships her beloved. For them love is a mighty force that can conquer everything in the universe. As the epitome of her expression of love, she describes how her love grows stronger at every stage of life. At first she tries to discuss the depth of her passion by drawing analogies between them, their love and religious and political ideals. Later She expresses the unique quality of her lasting love when she says that her love will get better after death.
Main Topics in How Do I Love You: Love and Faith are the main themes that fill this poem. The poem is mainly concerned with the speaker's love for her significant other. She expresses her deep and innocent love in fascinating ways. To show the intensity of love she feels, she describes how her love grows stronger over time.
Analyzing literary devices in How Do I Love You?
Literary devices are tools Topics that writers use to convey their emotions, ideas, and ideas to make their text more compelling and engaging to the reader. Elizabeth Barrett Browning also used some literary means to add uniqueness to this poem. The analysis of some of the literary means used in this poem has been discussed below

Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds on the same line as the sound of / ee / and / i / in "I love you free as men strive for right;" and the Sound of / e / in “I love you in depth, breadth and height.”
Metaphor: It is a phrase in which an implicit comparison is made between the objects that are different. For example, the poet compares her love and her soul to a physical three-dimensional object.
"I love you in depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach when it feels out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace."

Anaphora: It refers to the repetition of a word or phrase in the first part of some verses . For example, the word “love” is repeated to emphasize their feelings of true love.
“How do I love you? Let me count the ways.
I love you in depth, breadth and height. ”

Enjambment: It is defined as a thought or clause that does not end with a line break and continues on the next line. For example
“I love you with the passion that I put into my old worries and with the beliefs of my childhood.”

Imagery: Imagery is used to get readers to perceive things with their five senses. For example: “I love you in depth, breadth and height”, “The quietest need, through sun and candlelight” and “In my old worries and with mine, the faith of childhood.
Hyperbols: exaggeration is a means by which any statement is exaggerated for the sake of emphasis. For example
"I love you in depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach when it feels out of sight.

Analysis of Poetic Devices in How Do I Love You?
Poetic devices refer to those techniques that a poet uses to give uniqueness to his text. Analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem is given below.

Sonnet: A sonnet is a poem with fourteen lines and an idea flowing through the text. This is the Petrarchic sonnet, which means it has an octave and a sestet.
Octave: An octave is a verse form that consists of eight lines and usually appears with an iambic pentameter.
Sestet: A. sestet is the six-line stanza of poetry. The term refers to the last six lines of a sonnet.
Rhymus Scheme: The rhyme scheme used in Octet is ABBAABBA, and the Sestet follows the CDCDCD rhyme scheme.
Iambic Pentameter: It is a type of meter made up of five iambs. The poem contains iambic pentameters such as "I love you in depth and breadth and"
Quotes to be used
The following lines can be used to express a deep, passionate and deep love love. You can also use these lines on the Valentine's Day card.

“I love you with a love that I seemed to be losing
With my lost saints. I love you with my breath,
Smiles, tears, my whole life; And if God wishes, I'll only love you better after death.