An Explication of "How do I love Thee"

An Explication of "How do I love Thee" Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "How do I love Thee" from "Sonnets from the Portuguese" portrays a relationship and love in an exceptional manner that is not very common by today's standards. In the opening line, the speaker portrays the joy and delight felt by this kind of love and relationship. This is presented to the reader in the form of the rhetoric question, "How do I love thee?" (1). …

…has become evident throughout the poem is finally enforced when the speaker says, "if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death" (14). This indicates that the strength of the speaker's love will allow the relationship to be eternal and everlasting. No one is perfect; therefore, no relationship is perfect. However, "Sonnets from the Portuguese" demonstrates that love and relationships can be pure, eternal and unconditional if people really try and give their all.