The Portuguese & Love's Eternity
When poet Robert Browning proposed marriage to poet Elizabeth Barrett, he picked a book at random from the library and asked the book to predict the future of their love.
The book was about Italian grammar. The sentenced he chanced upon was a translation exercise. "If we love in the other world as we do in this. I shall love thee to eternity."
Not only did Elizabeth love him, she wrote her immortal poems, Sonnets From The Portuguese for him, the most famous being sonnet number 43.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints!---I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!---and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints!---I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!---and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
Initially Elizabeth felt the poems were too personal and she was hesitant to publish them. Urged by Robert to publish them, she wanted to publish them as translations of foreign sonnets.
After she chose the title, Sonnets from the Bosnian, Robert suggested that she change their imaginary original language to Portuguese. His nickname for her was, “My little Portuguese." The title is also a reference to Les Lettres portugaises.
The rest is love history. Though the Brownings epitomized and sonnetized the glory of love, they were tapping into an eternal reservoir in which we all have.
We each have our own love sonnet that we are writing as we live. The words and feelings are formed in our expressions and our power to transcend the mundane.
Love is not in the crash of the cymbals, but the drum roll of our heart that measures our ability to become one with ourselves and others. We want to bring our oneness to someone else’s oneness so the two of us will be one together, yet still maintain our oneness.
In order to be one with someone else, love makes us one with ourselves. Some of us are in various stages of oneness. Some of us are searching for our oneness outside of ourselves. Some of us think that we don’t need anyone else. Some of us feel that we need many someones.
The story of love turns it’s pages across our lives for a reason, but it never turns it's back on us. Love has made us the most amazing creatures. It’s not just when the egg and sperm join forces in conception.
We were conceived 'before' we were conceived. Love is cultivated in our beingness. We have traveled through hell and high water to get here. From across lifetimes and experiences, through various costumes and customs.
Love gives us the edge when we are falling over the cliffs of life. It leads us on a path of weightless adventure to our true selves, fighting all that would stand in it’s way.
Love is the powerful force that keeps us alive - even after death. Love will knock down doors, part the seas, walk on water and shake the stars from the universe to find us.
It will do anything for us. We get to experience the highest highs and the deepest depths of love. We are privileged to be able to encompass love and have it encompass us. Love enriches us. Even if we don’t fee that we have succeeded at keeping it, we still owe it to ourselves to have love.
As Robert Browning explains,
“But what if I fail of my purpose here? It is but to keep the nerves at strain, to dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall, and baffled, get up and begin again.”
We are a living history to love. We are legacies of love. We exist to love. Eternalize love today and express all that you are. Let love’s eternity take you in it’s tender loving arms and blow sweet kisses into your Soul. So what is love? Love is.
If you sonnetized your life what would you say?
16 comments:
When I can finally see through the Mirror,
Where will I be?
Is this the place that contains the face,
Of the person that I imagine myself to be?
Lost aspects of the soul,
Past lives that have endured through the long Winter Nights,
We have all found our Way
To Beyond Today
Where we shall all forgive
And finally Unite.
Our hearts shall all beat as one,
And our eyes will shine like stars in the Sky.
There is no place like Home
And Love will be our name
We will laugh at all of our memories
And there will be no more games.
We will all just be One and the Same.
(Just a quick potential Sonnet)
Hey Lady A,
Such a cute image; A!! I loved it...love is the most beautiful thing there is in the whole universe :)!
"and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death." - it is God's will that we love the one we really love even in the life after life. This poem is so beautiful, so delicate, so powerful at the same time that I conclude that these two really loved each other. They were blessed with a sentiment that I call "beyond love" that only a very few are blessed with.
Oh my...they decided to, somehow honour Portugal and the Portuguese language...I wonder why? I wonder if in a past life they were here (it happens you know)...
"In order to be one with someone else, love makes us one with ourselves." - absolutely!! This is like that thought "to know others you must know yourself first". It is like we are the source of our own existence, and if we don't get ourselves (or if something within is not right), then we will never be able to complete or even get others. If don't love ourselves, we will never be able to love someone else...
"We were conceived 'before' we were conceived." - amen!!
"Let love’s eternity take you in it’s tender loving arms and blow sweet kisses into your Soul." - so beautiful, A!
"If you sonnetized your life what would you say?" - Aaahhh, first I would have to have the talent to write a sonnet (which I don't); but even if I did have that delicious talent I would have so many things to say that I would write a whole book in a week lol.
Seriously, if I had sonnetise my life I would tell the story of my Love for Love (the personification of love that entered my life, pierced my being, and implanted itself in my cells in such a way that it won't detach not even in the after life).
Alexys, thank you for this marvellous and love-charged post :D!
Loving Cheers
When you see, hear, smell, taste and extend additional senses, you reconnect with Love or all that is.
Everything unnecessary falls away.
When you open the mind to start thinking, you separate from the Source and distance from the self.
You consciously forget the truth.
Unless you open to a timeless core,
that is, revisit your very centre,
then you postpone the chance
to re-enter paradise, in your soul.
Body and soul cannot stay attached to worldly goals.
As you transcend what holds you back,
The mind remembers its origins.
Energy is flowing. Wind is blowing.
Love permeates everywhere.
Alexys,
This is a most beautiful and powerful post! Love is! There is nothing else needed.
Hi Bernie,
This is a beautiful well layered sonnet of that broaches the questions of time and the immortality that we are each faced with. It also highlights how even if we think we have lost ourselves, we can reunite with ourselves in birth and rebirth. Thank you for sharing your beauty.
Hi Max,
"Such a cute image; A!! I loved it...love is the most beautiful thing there is in the whole universe :)!"
This image reminds me of you and your little angelic face. Love IS beautiful.
I think this is a clear case of those two Souls recognizing each other. (Like in the book Brida.) The poem is delicately powerful like you suggest.
"Oh my...they decided to, somehow honour Portugal and the Portuguese language...I wonder why? I wonder if in a past life they were here (it happens you know)..."
Robert Browning called her "my little Portuguese" because of her dark coloring. The choice of ‘Portuguese’ is in reference to a poem of hers published before they met, "Catarina to Camoens,"
in which a woman declares her love for a poet who is denied her. Elizabeth tells of courtly love from the woman's perspective, and in the process reinvents the woman's role within the love sonnet. No longer the remote woman on the pillar to be adored but never attained, Browning's love is active, sexual, and recuperatory. This radical aspect of the poems was overlooked by contemporaries, for whom Sonnets from the Portuguese became a sentimental classic. Browning's radicalism was also overlooked by 20th-century critics, who dismissed them for the same reason that the Victorians adored them - because of their supposed sentimentality.
You know her father discouraged visitors and forbade any of his children to marry. It has been suggested that the father was afraid that succeeding generations would provide evidence of his family having a non-white ancestor. Elizabeth eloped to Italy and never reconciled with her father, who never opened the countless letters she sent him begging his forgiveness. She never saw her father again.
"It is like we are the source of our own existence, and if we don't get ourselves (or if something within is not right), then we will never be able to complete or even get others. If don't love ourselves, we will never be able to love someone else."
High five! ^5
" - so beautiful, A!"
Thank you my darling.
"I would have to have the talent to write a sonnet (which I don't); but even if I did have that delicious talent I would have so many things to say that I would write a whole book in a week lol."
But everyone has the talent for love. When we remove the obstacles, we can tap dance on the stage of love. Elizabeth never knew that they would be published while she wrote them, it was an afterthought.
"Seriously, if I had sonnetise my life I would tell the story of my Love for Love (the personification of love that entered my life, pierced my being, and implanted itself in my cells in such a way that it won't detach not even in the after life)."
See, I knew you could tap into that weightless space and spread your wings.
Thank you for participating in the love fest today.
Love Is The Sum Of All Cheers!
Hi Liara,
Wow, this is really outstanding. It highlights the tender graces of heightened senses as evidenced by love's purity. Thinking about love does distance us from love in the sense that we are not experiencing it in our Soul.
You also remind us that love fills in those spaces between all hearts and Souls. Thank you my dear for sharing the love that permeates your Soul.
Hi Mark,
Thank you. Your words are always warm and loving.
Ah...How would I sonnetize Life?
Live it to the fullest!
Great post, Alexys. The Browning's are two of my favs.
Happy Poetry month!
PS...not a sonnet, but a diamante, of sorts...
Love Diamond
alone
quiet, peace-filled
thinking, working, meditating
one, singular, two, doubled
talking, playing, loving
resonant, soul-filled
together
Linda M. Rhinehart Neas © 2002
Hi Linda,
This is a lovely expression that captures the warm and fuzziness of life and love perfectly.
Thank you for sharing it with us.
May your love always be a diamond.
Hi Lady A!
"This image reminds me of you and your little angelic face. Love IS beautiful."
Awww, you are so kind - thank you :)!! Oh yes...
"I think this is a clear case of those two Souls recognizing each other. (Like in the book Brida.) The poem is delicately powerful like you suggest."
I agree with you! Ah, Brida...such a gorgeous book (I must have read it 10 times).
"Robert Browning called her "my little Portuguese" because of her dark coloring. The choice of ‘Portuguese’ is in reference to a poem of hers published before they met, "Catarina to Camoens," in which a woman declares her love for a poet who is denied her. "
Oh, are the Portuguese viewed as having dark complexions?
That sounds like an interesting poem (I will look for it)...rejection can be such a powerful weapon *nodding*.
"Elizabeth tells of courtly love from the woman's perspective, and in the process reinvents the woman's role within the love sonnet. No longer the remote woman on the pillar to be adored but never attained, Browning's love is active, sexual, and recuperatory."
I like this new concept. The females portrayed in sonnets have always annoyed me - they sound futile, shallow...I dislike them *nodding*.
I remember having a discussion with my Portuguese Literature teacher in High School about this, she was shocked at me LOL...
"This radical aspect of the poems was overlooked by contemporaries, for whom Sonnets from the Portuguese became a sentimental classic. Browning's radicalism was also overlooked by 20th-century critics, who dismissed them for the same reason that the Victorians adored them - because of their supposed sentimentality."
I see...well, now I must read it (before I can say whatsoever). Have you read it? And if yes, what did you think of it?
"You know her father discouraged visitors and forbade any of his children to marry. It has been suggested that the father was afraid that succeeding generations would provide evidence of his family having a non-white ancestor. Elizabeth eloped to Italy and never reconciled with her father, who never opened the countless letters she sent him begging his forgiveness. She never saw her father again."
I beg his pardon? This is outraging! That man should be proud of his non-white ancestry...oh, the dark times of ignorance (although some would argue that he was trying to protect his family...but I don't know) *nodding*.
That is terrible!! Severing a family member over that? Shocking...
"High five! ^5"
^5!
"Thank you my darling."
Don't mention it!
"But everyone has the talent for love. When we remove the obstacles, we can tap dance on the stage of love. Elizabeth never knew that they would be published while she wrote them, it was an afterthought."
That is true, but to write a sonnet love is not enough. I find it hard to write in dodecasyllables.
What you said is so gorgeous: girl, you are love itself!
"See, I knew you could tap into that weightless space and spread your wings."
LOL...you have a way with words :D!
"Thank you for participating in the love fest today."
It was my pleasure, darling :D! You know I love a good fest!
Love is the Breath of Life Cheers
Hi Max,
"Brida...such a gorgeous book (I must have read it 10 times)."
I'm going to put it on my reading list.
"Oh, are the Portuguese viewed as having dark complexions?"
I found that statement odd too. Elizabeth had dark hair. Perhaps it was because of that? Who knows?
"...rejection can be such a powerful weapon."
Indeed.
"The females portrayed in sonnets have always annoyed me - they sound futile, shallow...I dislike them *nodding*."
Exactly. Although I think it reflected the time period.
"I remember having a discussion with my Portuguese Literature teacher in High School about this, she was shocked at me LOL..."
What did she do? I bet you were a challenge to your teachers.
"I see...well, now I must read it (before I can say whatsoever). Have you read it? And if yes, what did you think of it?"
I have not read it. I am not a hardcore poetry enthusiast. I was trying to research it, but I could not find it online. Perhaps it warrants another library trip with those LOUD librarians.
"I beg his pardon? This is outraging! That man should be proud of his non-white ancestry...oh, the dark times of ignorance (although some would argue that he was trying to protect his family...but I don't know) *nodding*.That is terrible!! Severing a family member over that? Shocking..."
It is tragic all the way around.
"That is true, but to write a sonnet love is not enough. I find it hard to write in dodecasyllables."
Thanks for teaching me a new word. The first part of it means 12 in Greek. (dodeca)
"What you said is so gorgeous: girl, you are love itself!"
Oh that is so lovely. Thanks.
Love is [Definitely] the Breath of Life Cheers!
Hi Lady A,
"I'm going to put it on my reading list."
:D you will love it!
"I found that statement odd too. Elizabeth had dark hair. Perhaps it was because of that? Who knows?"
Oh, dark hair...yes, that they do! I shared this with my mom, and she said that perhaps it was because Americans used to call Cape Verdeans the dark Portuguese (since they were extremely light mulattoes)...but who knows? Maybe it is the dark hair after all...
"Exactly. Although I think it reflected the time period."
I don't believe women were ever like that (there are those who pretend to be dumb and shallow - because they know men will yield faster that way [I prefer to battle them if I must])...men sometimes go through a positive schizofrenia and picture women that way - how wrong they are *nodding*.
"What did she do? I bet you were a challenge to your teachers."
She was speechless, and her jaw was tilted down LOL...what a sight. Then she said "let's focus on the programme, shall we? This is not a feminist campaign" LOL LOL then I had to enlighten her by saying that I was not a feminist etc etc...
LOL I was a quiet student, but sometimes I just had to express myself...
"I have not read it. I am not a hardcore poetry enthusiast. I was trying to research it, but I could not find it online. Perhaps it warrants another library trip with those LOUD librarians."
No info online? That is sad *nodding*. I guess you are right: another trip to the library...
"It is tragic all the way around."
It is...
"Thanks for teaching me a new word. The first part of it means 12 in Greek. (dodeca)"
Don't mention it! Yes, it does. In poetry they measure the metres of the verses by using the Greek numbers.
"Oh that is so lovely. Thanks."
You are most welcome :D!
Love Brings out the Best in Us Cheers
Hi Max,
"Oh, dark hair...yes, that they do! I shared this with my mom, and she said that perhaps it was because Americans used to call Cape Verdeans the dark Portuguese (since they were extremely light mulattoes)...but who knows? Maybe it is the dark hair after all..."
Robert Browning was British and they can be very alabaster, although looking at a photo of him, he seems to have the same coloring of Elizabeth. Hmmmm?
"I don't believe women were ever like that (there are those who pretend to be dumb and shallow - because they know men will yield faster that way [I prefer to battle them if I must])...men sometimes go through a positive schizofrenia and picture women that way - how wrong they are *nodding*."
Very astute observation my dear. Men go through a 'positive schizophrenia.' ROFL.
"She was speechless, and her jaw was tilted down LOL...what a sight. Then she said "let's focus on the programme, shall we? This is not a feminist campaign" LOL LOL then I had to enlighten her by saying that I was not a feminist etc etc..."
Ha ha ha ha ha ha. You were very expressive.
"In poetry they measure the metres of the verses by using the Greek numbers."
I never cared too much for meters. They seem to break the natural flow. Shakespeare has several meters, but we can't "hear" them when we read it. They have to be spoken. It's in the delivery. I think we find our natural meter in how we read prose rather than how we hear it.
Thanks for being a good student.
Love Brings Out Good Students Cheers!
Hi Lady A,
"Robert Browning was British and they can be very alabaster, although looking at a photo of him, he seems to have the same coloring of Elizabeth. Hmmmm?"
Oh, he was British...then my mom's theory is null and void *striking it from my list*. LOL well, A...it remains a mystery then...it is one of those couple codes, I suppose.
"Very astute observation my dear. Men go through a 'positive schizophrenia.' ROFL."
Thank you *bowing*. LOL LOL they do...
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha. You were very expressive."
lol...that I was, I admit.
"I never cared too much for meters. They seem to break the natural flow. Shakespeare has several meters, but we can't "hear" them when we read it. They have to be spoken. It's in the delivery. I think we find our natural meter in how we read prose rather than how we hear it."
I always thought that poetry should come from the heart. I always questioned whether poets followed those rules or their poetry just came out like that. But in school (humanistics course) they insist on teaching us these details of poetry *nodding*.
Oh yes, Shakespeare...*sigh*...
I agree with you.
"Thanks for being a good student."
A good student reflects a good teacher...so thank you *bowing*! :D
Love is Our Common Ground Cheers
Hi Max,
"...it is one of those couple codes, I suppose."
Very good point. Those couple codes. Just had a conversation about that this week.
"I always thought that poetry should come from the heart. I always questioned whether poets followed those rules or their poetry just came out like that. But in school (humanistics course) they insist on teaching us these details of poetry *nodding*."
It's true. Artists come from the heart. It's not until after that scholars try and ascertain what was going through their head/heart at the time. Artists have their own language.
Here's to good students AND teachers.
Teach Love Cheers!
Btw, great work on deciphering the poem.
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