HOW DO I LOVE THEE, LET ME COUNT THE WAYS  by Elizabeth Barrett Browning


Question: In the poem, how has the poet presented the extent of her love?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's love poem about the extent of her feelings for her lover presents it as all-encompassing to show that it is a love that transcends everything. This is done through measuring her love against divine love,  passion, the abstract and mortality.

Firstly, when she refers to the 'depth', 'breadth and height' that her soul can reach it implies a love that is immeasurable and without limits because there is no way to determine how far a soul can reach. Furthermore this comparison using the intangible goes beyond the limits of our  imagination which supports the view that her love is all-encompassing.

Moreover, the all-embracing nature of her love is also measured against spiritual belief and God's love. The persona presents her love as immense, beyond God's 'ideal Grace' or his freely-given love because even when she feels 'out of  [His] sight', her love prevails. It goes beyond existence of her' Being'.

From a comparison that challenges the realms of our imagination, the speaker brings us back to the ordinary to reveal that her love is never ending. Even during 'everyday's most quiet need' when she needs to take a break and rest, the love that she feels still continues without a pause.

In addition, it is made clear that time is of no consequence; 'by sun and candlelight' her love still endures. All through her days and nights her love goes on. Through this we are shown the everlasting nature of her love which it includes all that time itself can offer.

Furthermore she delivers the intensity of her feelings through comparisons with the passion that man is capable of to show the strength of his beliefs. When 'men strive for Right', they would go all out to fight for it just as those who would bravely 'turn from Praise' and risk both persecution and prosecution by the Church which played a significant role in people's lives then. This comparison shows the strength of the love, and the speaker's willingness to face adversity to prove it.

Finally, the all-encompassing quality of the speaker's love is highlighted by pointing out that it goes beyond life and death. When she refers to how she loves with the 'breath,/smiles, tears' of all her life it makes us feel that her all of her being is devoted to loving him. However, it does not stop there because she says that  'after death' she will love 'thee better'  showing us it encompasses all of existence itself.

In conclusion, through her words and comparisons, the speaker's love extends beyond both the intangible and tangible to show that it is immeasurable, transcending even the infinite as well as our imagination.

This essay was written by and is the property of Bahiyah Borhan of  Bastian's Way Literature in English Programme.

Guides to studying some of the poems

Click on the title to read the BBC guide to studying WILFRED OWEN's Dulce et Decorum Est

Read what this blogger has posted on STANLEY KUNITZ's poem, The War Against the Trees.

Andrew Moore provides a detailed study of THOMAS HARDY's poem The Man He Killed

Read the sample essay on ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING's poem How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways in this blog.

How to plan an essay

Many students need help with organising and structuring their essay.  How to plan an essay provides guidelines to help students get started.

LOOKING FOR ONLINE STUDY GUIDES?

Go to this site for study guides on some of the novels and plays that are in the syllabus.

Or you can go to another site here.

Check out this interesting site which can help you learn more about An Inspector Calls

No change of texts until SPM 2015

The texts for SPM Literature in English (Elective) will remain unchanged until SPM 2014. The 7th cycle of texts will apply to students sitting for SPM in 2015.

SPM 2008-2014: TEXTS AND TITLES FOR STUDY

Poems
Theme: Relationships
1.Tonight I Can Write - Pablo Neruda
2. Ways of Love - Chung Yee Chong
3. A Prayer for My Daughter - Yeats
4. The Way Things Are - Roger McGough
5. For My Old Amah - Wong Phui Nam
6. How Do I Love Thee? - Elizabeth Barret Browning

Theme: Perception of Life
1. Birches- Robert Frost
2. I Am - John Clare
3. This Is A Photograph of Me - Margaret Atwood
4. Waiting to Go On - Hugo Williams
5. Daring Tears - Craig Romkema
6.The Traveller - Muhammad hj Salleh

Theme: Conflicts
1. Dulce et Decorum Est- Wilfred Owen
2. The Man He Killed - Thomas Hardy
3. Death of A Rainforest - Cecil Rajendra
4. The War Against the Trees - Stanley Kunitz
5. A Quarrel Between Day and Night - Omar Mohd Noor
6. "Crabbed age and youth cannot live together"- Shakespeare's Poems (from Sonnet XII - The Passionate Pilgrim)



Short Stories
1. Naukar - Anya Sitaram
2. Cinderella Girl - Vivien Alcock
3. The Landlady - Roald Dahl
4. Neighbours - Robert Raymer
5. Harrison Bergeron - Kurt Vonnegut Jr

Novels
1. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury
2. Fasting, Feasting - Anita Desai
3. Holes - Louis Sachar

Drama
1. Julius Caesar - William Shakespeare
2. The Lion and the Jewel - Wole Soyinka
3. An Inspector Calls - JB Priestley

Click here to read the Syllabus Objectives and Learning Outcomes.

READ SOME OF THE SHORT STORIES HERE

The following stories can be read online:

1. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut

2. The Landlady by Roald Dahl

3. Cinderella Girl by Vivienne Alcock

4. Neighbors by Robert Raymer