The love that «I seemed to lose with my lost saints» refers to the lost loves of her mother and her brother. Her «passion put to use in my old griefs» refers to the depth of her former despair. Her Christian spirituality testifies that she loves Robert «to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach.» She then professes seven more ways that she loves Robert. The love poem starts with the question, «How Do I Love Thee?» and proceeds to count the ways. However, Robert’s pet name for Elizabeth was «my little Portuguese,» a reflection on Elizabeth’s darker, mediterranean complexion, possibly inherited from the family’s Jamaican ties. Some have speculated that the title was chosen to hide the personal nature of the sonnets and to imply that the collection was a translation of earlier works. In 1850 she published Sonnets From the Portuguese. It is heartfelt, romantic, loving, elegant, and simple. Sonnet XLIII, « How Do I Love Thee?» is probably Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s most popular love poem. They were written to her love Robert Browning, during their period of engagement. These poems were published the first time in 1850. The poem is also titled Sonnet XLIII from Sonnets From the Portuguese and it belongs to a love sonnet’s collection called “ The Portuguese”, which is considered one of the most famous works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861). “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning was written in 1845 while she was being courted by the English poet, Robert Browning. I shall but love thee better after death. Smiles, tears, of all my life!-and, if God choose,
With my lost saints!-I love thee with the breath, In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
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