Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The 43rd sonnet from Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Songs from the Portuguese may be one my all time favorite poems, mostly because the first time I encountered it was in the film, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, one of my favorite childhood movies and the first line, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” (532; ll. 1) always reminds me of a cartoon rabbit; however, now as I’ve gotten older it holds newer meaning to me. I am still seeking for a person that inspires such thoughts as this within me. I have time, so I’m not worried about it but I hope that when I do find that right someone that these are the same thoughts that cross my mind when I consider how I love her. There is such power in her lines which read “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach” (532; ll. 2-3). I cannot fathom the expanse that that covers. It reminds me also of the relationship between Robert Schumann and his wife Clara. In her journals, Clara wrote some of the most beautiful things about her husband Robert and he wrote glorious music for her. Both of these couples immortalized their love for each other in their everyday lives. They all truly captured the essence of the last two lines of Browning’s poem that say “and, if God choose, / I shall but love thee better after death” (532; ll.13-14). They have all loved each other better after death, because their love is immortal through their work that has lived on throughout the centuries. When people read this poem, the love between Robert and Elizabeth live on in the hearts of others even though they have long since gone on. The same is true of the Schumanns. Their love is alive through the many songs Robert wrote for Clara that are still sung today. These four great people shall never die, nor shall their love for each other, because of the many wonderful works they have left behind them for all to remember their great love for each other. I can only hope that one day I too can experience love like that of the Brownings and the Schumanns.