Vignettes

Immortal love poem

R. S. Karunaratne

Love poems have produced some wonderfully familiar lines:

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"Come live with me and be my love" -Christopher Marlowe

"She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies" - Lord Byron

"My love is like a red, red rose" - Robert Burns

"When I go away from you the world beats dead like a slackened drum" - Amy Lowell

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" - William Shakespeare

"Drink to me only with thine eyes and I will pledge with mine; or leave a kiss but in the cup and I'll not look for wine" - Ben Jonson

These were some of the lines that flashed across my mind when I thought of love poems in English. Even if you do not read poetry as a habit, these love poems will add a new dimension to your character because love is the most essential element in life. If you do not love someone, your world is rather incomplete.

Love can be of many types: Passionate love, mannered love, physical love, vanity love, or divine love. However, as human beings love usually signifies strong feelings towards a member of the opposite sex. According to Stendhal's path-breaking work Love, your love-life begins at 16. And it continues till you die. In love, unlike most other passions, the recollections of what you have had and lost are always better than what you can hope for in the future.

Almost all the love poets have reflected Stendhal's views in their poems. Some of these love poems are permanently etched in your mind. Others are appreciated while reading and forgotten thereafter. Some of the love poems published in newspapers belong to the second category.

Out of all the love poems I have read over the years there is one that I cannot forget easily. That is Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways". The poem is reproduced here for your enjoyment:

"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 Rights;

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."

- From "Sonnets from the Portuguese"

By any standards, this is a hauntingly beautiful love poem, Its success lies in the circumstances that led to the writing of the poem.

Being the eldest daughter of 12 children of an English county gentleman, Elizabeth showed early signs of talent for writing poetry. It is said, at 13 she wrote an epic poem entitled "The Battle of Marathon" which was published by her father.

At 15 Elizabeth had a fall from the back of a horse and became an invalid. When she was 22 her mother died leaving Elizabeth in a more miserable state. Meanwhile, she was diagnosed to be having consumption. As a result, she had to be confined to her room.

The solitary confinement did not deter her enthusiasm for writing. She turned out several volumes of poetry of high standard. However, she missed the simple joys of life such as love and outdoor life. Her tyrannical father made her life more miserable by not allowing her to have any contact with the outside world.

As destiny had planned, another leading poet, Robert Browning, desired to see her simply because he had been fascinated by her poetry. Both of them had tremendous mutual respect for each other that finally led to an intimate relationship. After exchanging several love letters they got married despite her father's objections.

Their love grew even after their marriage. To Browning she was his "Lyric Love". To Elizabeth he was everything that made life beautiful.

The poem reproduced here is the 44th sonnet she had written to him in secret. She did not want mention it to Browning even after marriage. However, one day she decided to give it to him.

Browning exclaimed, "These are the finest sonnets in any language since Shakespeare." Despite her initial reluctance, the sonnets were published later. So, today we are fortunate enough to read and enjoy her masterpiece on love.