How Do I Love Thee Sonnet 43 Elizabeth Barrett Browning Figurative Language?

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Browning also uses

personification in the second and third lines

. She says “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height/My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight”. Browning is saying that even when she cannot touch him with her hand or any part of her body, her soul will still reach him.

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What literary device is used in Sonnet 43?

In ‘Sonnet 43,' Browning makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not limited to

imagery, simile, and alliteration

. The first of these is one of the most impactful literary devices that a poet can use.

What are the metaphors in Sonnet 43?

Lines 2-4: The speaker uses a

spatial metaphor to describe the extent of her love, comparing her soul to a physical, three-dimensional object in the world

. These three lines also introduce a lot of sound play into the sonnet. In line two, three words have a “th” sound, and a fourth word (“height”) comes close.

What are the literary devices in the poem How Do I Love Thee?


Assonance

: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of /ee/ and /i/ in “I love thee freely, as men strive for right;” and the sound of /e/ in “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height.”

What is the hyperbole in How Do I Love Thee?

A hyperbole is a exaggeration or a overstatement. This is a hyperbole because you cant really love someone with all of those things she is describing she is just exaggerating.

I love thee freely

, as men strive for right; … The way she says I love thee at the start of the sentences is how she uses parallelism.

What literary device does Browning use in this sonnet?

Browning employs

a spatial metaphor

in lines 2–4, describing the speaker's love as something that can take up literal, physical space, “to depth and breadth and height / [Her] soul can reach.” Because love is not something that can take up actual space, we understand there is something figurative going on here.

What is literary devices in a story?

Literary devices are

techniques that writers use to express their ideas and enhance their writing

. Literary devices highlight important concepts in a text, strengthen the narrative, and help readers connect to the characters and themes.

How do you call a figurative language that compares two unlike things?


A simile

is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things and uses the words “like” or “as” and they are commonly used in everyday communication.

Who does the poet address in the poem How Do I love Thee?

The speaker of “How do I love thee” is often identified with Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the author of the poem. The addressee of the love poem is then usually assumed to be

Robert Browning

, her husband.

What is imagery poetry?

Elements of

a poem that invoke any of the five senses to create a set of mental images

. Specifically, using vivid or figurative language to represent ideas, objects, or actions.

What is theme of the poem?

Theme is

the lesson or message of the

poem.

Which excerpt from sonnet 43 best indicates that the speaker loves her beloved at every moment?

Which excerpt from “Sonnet 43” best indicates that the speaker loves her beloved at every moment? All the happiness of her life is still bound up with her beloved. … What theme about love appears in “Sonnet 43”?

In what part of How Do I Love Thee by Elizabeth Browning Can you tell what the tone is and what impact does the tone have on the poem?


The tone demonstrates commitment to love for a long time

. The tone is pure and unselfish. The speaker uses many biblical allusions to compare to her love. These biblical concepts of Praise, Right[eousness], and Grace are all beautiful expressions of God's attempt to love mankind and His desire to be loved back.

What type of figurative language is the author using in this excerpt from Romeo and Juliet?

This is a

SIMILE

.

What is the rhyme scheme of sonnet 43?

Structure: This poem is a sonnet, it has 14 lines. Also it is iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is the poem is

ABBA ABBA CDC DCD

.

How do I love thee religious allusion?

Allusion Examples in How Do I Love Thee?:


Browning alludes to the Christian saints

, who are people recognized within their faith as being exceptionally virtuous, holy, or close to God. Depending on the Christian denomination, some saints are believed to have been chosen by God.

When did Elizabeth Barrett Browning write sonnet 43?

Prominent Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning first published the poem in

1850

. The poem was part of a sonnet sequence called Sonnets from the Portuguese.

Is figurative language a literary device?

Figurative language is

a type of literary device that adds color to our writing

. It includes but isn't limited to similes, metaphors, symbolism, hyperbole, and personification.

What figurative language is?

Figurative language is

when you describe something by comparing it to something else

. The words or phrases that are used don't have a literal meaning. It uses metaphors, allusions, similes, hyperboles and other examples to help describe the object you are talking about.

How the writer uses language?

Language choice is key when creating mood, atmosphere and tone. Writers use different techniques depending on the effect they want to achieve. The

sounds of words

, the images they create, the literal meaning of words as well as the ideas suggested by or associated with certain words and phrases all count.

What does literally or figuratively mean?

What does literally mean? Although

figuratively

has room for interpretation or exaggeration, literally is exact and concrete in its meaning.

What are two similes?

  • You were as brave as a lion.
  • They fought like cats and dogs.
  • He is as funny as a barrel of monkeys.
  • This house is as clean as a whistle.
  • He is as strong as an ox.
  • Your explanation is as clear as mud.
  • Watching the show was like watching grass grow.

What is hyperbole and examples?

Hyperbole is a figure of speech. For example:

“There's enough food in the cupboard to feed an entire army!

” … For example: “This is the worst book in the world!” – the speaker doesn't literally mean that the book is the worst one ever written, but is using hyperbole to be dramatic and emphasize their opinion.

What do the sun and candlelight stand for?

More profoundly, however, “sun and candle-light” might also be read as

symbols for life and death

. This reading is supported by the speaker's claim later in the poem that she will love her beloved “better after death,” suggesting that her love will persist into the afterlife.

How do you write a figurative language poem?

  1. Write a poem using a combination of similes, metaphors, and personification.
  2. Be sure to use descriptive imagery, including bold, colorful words. …
  3. Your poem does not have to rhyme.
  4. Do not write your poem in paragraph form. …
  5. Begin each line with a capital letter.

What language styles can be used in a poem?

Poetic language (also called poetic devices) are the tools of of sound or meaning that a poet can use to make the poem more surprising, vivid, complex, or interesting. Examples of these tools include

alliteration, onomatopoeia, imagery, metaphors and similes, and allusion

.

What kind of sonnet is how do I love thee?

The poem is

a sonnet

, a 14-line poem written in iambic pentameter. Although it does not follow the precise rhyme scheme of an Italian sonnet, the poem's structure follow the form of an Italian sonnet, consisting of an octet – the first eight lines, and the sestet, the final six lines.

What is the mood of a poem?

The mood of a poem is

the emotion evoked in the reader by the poem itself

. Mood is often confused with tone, which is the speaker's attitude toward…

How is the tone of the poem?

The tone of a poem is

the attitude you feel in it

— the writer's attitude toward the subject or audience. … Tone can be playful, humorous, regretful, anything — and it can change as the poem goes along. When you speak, your tone of voice suggests your attitude.

What is alliteration poem?

Alliteration is

the repetition of the same letter sound across the start of several words in a line of text

.

How Do I love Thee When was it written?

‘How do I love thee? ‘ was first published in the collection Sonnets from the Portuguese

(1850)

, which Elizabeth Barrett Browning dedicated to her husband, the poet Robert Browning. The poem is a conventional Petrarchan sonnet that lists the different ways in which the poet loves her husband.

What is the author's purpose in writing the poem?

An author's purpose is his reason for or intent in writing. An author's purpose may be

to amuse the reader, to persuade the reader, to inform the reader, or to satirize a condition

.

How does Elizabeth Barrett Browning express the power of love in her poem?

For example in the last line she says ‘I shall but love thee better after death' Barrett Browning uses the

hyperbole

to show romantic love. The love is so strong in this poem it can almost become unrequited love as she almost idolizes this person. Barrett Browning tries to measure her love for this man.

What are the ideas about love conveyed in Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Browning?

In Sonnet 43, Elizabeth Barrett Browning describes

her love for Robert Browning as being passionate, virtuous, pervasive, and trusting

. When she speaks of the “depth and breadth and height my soul can reach,” she describes the fervency of emotion that characterizes her love.

How does Browning express intense feelings of love in Sonnet 43?

Sonnet 43 expresses the poet's intense love for her husband-to-be, Robert Browning. So intense is her love for him,

she says, that it rises to the spiritual level (lines 3 and 4)

. She loves him freely, without coercion; she loves him purely, without expectation of personal gain.

Who said O she doth teach the torches to burn bright in Romeo and Juliet?

A Short Analysis of Romeo's ‘O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright' Speech. ‘O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright' is a famous speech spoken by

Romeo

in Act I Scene 5 of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

What is the metaphor that Romeo uses when he first sees Juliet?

Romeo begins by using

the sun

as a metaphor for his beloved Juliet: “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. In these same lines Romeo has furthered his metaphor by using personification. He creates for us the idea that the moon is a woman who is “sick and pale with grief,” seemingly jealous of Juliet's beauty.

Was that my father that went hence so fast?

Was that my father that went hence so fast? Oh

my

, time goes by slowly when you're sad. Was that my father who left here in such a hurry? It was.

Amira Khan
Author
Amira Khan
Amira Khan is a philosopher and scholar of religion with a Ph.D. in philosophy and theology. Amira's expertise includes the history of philosophy and religion, ethics, and the philosophy of science. She is passionate about helping readers navigate complex philosophical and religious concepts in a clear and accessible way.