Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sonnet 09 Can it be right to give what I can give Poem  ………………. by Elizabeth Barrett Browning _______________________________________________________________________________________ Can it be right to give what I can give?To let thee sit beneath the fall of tearsAs salt as mine, and hear the sighing yearsRe-sighing on my lips renunciativeThrough those infrequent smiles which fail to liveFor … Read more…

Sonnet 10 Yet love mere love is beautiful indeed Poem  ………………. by Elizabeth Barrett Browning _______________________________________________________________________________________ Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeedAnd worthy of acceptation. Fire is bright,Let temple burn, or flax; an equal lightLeaps in the flame from cedar-plank or weed:And love is fire. And when I say at needI love thee . . … Read more…

Sonnet 11 And therefore if to love can be desert Poem  ………………. by Elizabeth Barrett Browning _______________________________________________________________________________________ And therefore if to love can be desert,I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as paleAs these you see, and trembling knees that failTo bear the burden of a heavy heart,?This weary minstrel-life that once was girtTo climb Aornus, and … Read more…

Sonnet 12 Indeed this very love which is my boast Poem  ………………. by Elizabeth Barrett Browning _______________________________________________________________________________________ Indeed this very love which is my boast,And which, when rising up from breast to brow,Doth crown me with a ruby large enowTo draw men’s eyes and prove the inner cost,?This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,I … Read more…

Sonnet 13 And wilt thou have me fashion into speech Poem  ………………. by Elizabeth Barrett Browning _______________________________________________________________________________________ And wilt thou have me fashion into speechThe love I bear thee, finding words enough,And hold the torch out, while the winds are rough,Between our faces, to cast light on each??I drop it at thy feet. I cannot teachMy … Read more…

Sonnet 14 If thou must love me let it be for nought Poem  ………………. by Elizabeth Barrett Browning _______________________________________________________________________________________ If thou must love me, let it be for noughtExcept for love’s sake only. Do not say‘I love her for her smile?her look?her wayOf speaking gently,?for a trick of thoughtThat falls in well with mine, and certes … Read more…

Sonnet 15 Accuse me not beseech thee that I wear Poem  ………………. by Elizabeth Barrett Browning _______________________________________________________________________________________ Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wearToo calm and sad a face in front of thine;For we two look two ways, and cannot shineWith the same sunlight on our brow and hair. On me thou lookest with no … Read more…

Sonnet 16 And yet because thou overcomest so Poem  ………………. by Elizabeth Barrett Browning _______________________________________________________________________________________ And yet, because thou overcomest so,Because thou art more noble and like a king,Thou canst prevail against my fears and flingThy purple round me, till my heart shall growToo close against thine heart henceforth to knowHow it shook when alone. Why, … Read more…

Sonnet 17 My poet thou canst touch on all the notes Poem  ………………. by Elizabeth Barrett Browning _______________________________________________________________________________________ My poet, thou canst touch on all the notesGod set between his After and Before,And strike up and strike off the general roarOf the rushing worlds a melody that floatsIn a serene air purely. AntidotesOf medicated music, answering … Read more…

Sonnet 18 I never gave a lock of hair away Poem  ………………. by Elizabeth Barrett Browning _______________________________________________________________________________________ I never gave a lock of hair awayTo a man, Dearest, except this to thee,Which now upon my fingers thoughtfully,I ring out to the full brown length and say‘Take it.‘ My day of youth went yesterday;My hair no longer … Read more…