Analysis_of_Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning's_Sonnet_14

Sonnet 14 Analysis In Sonnet 14 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the narrator of the poem is the poet herself. The reader can determine that Browning is the narrator through the use of the pronoun ‘me’ and the word, “mine”. The purpose of the poem is to convey a message to the narrator’s lover. The narrator is telling her lover that he should love her for her who she is ‘on the inside’, and not love her for her physical attributes. The speaker does not completely trust her lover, because she feels that he only loves her because of how she looks or her ability to write. The narrator is hoping that her lover does not love her out of pity. Elizabeth is telling her lover that he should not love her for qualities that are changeable and unreliable, but for “love’s sake” because that is the only love that lasts. The poem is written as one continuous fourteen line stanza. The stanza begins with the narrator telling her lover that if he must love her, then he cannot love her for her physical qualities, or her way of speaking. She says that if he loves her for physical characteristics or her way of speaking, then those qualities may change and he will not love her any more. She tells her lover that he cannot love her because he wants to dry her tears, because her tears will eventually dry and he will not love her anymore. She asks her lover to love her because he wants to, because if he loves her for “love’s sake”, then their love will last. What is unique about the poem is that the poem does not have a title, and instead the first phrase of the first line of the poem is often used as a title for the poem. The author gives the poem a tentative first phrase because she says “If thou must love me” stating that she is still uncertain about the relationship she has with her lover, the fact that the narrator is tentative about the love that she and her lover share is strange because Sonnets area typically about the narrator being in love, not the narrator doubting love. The poem contains literary devices. The words, “pity’s wiping my cheeks dry” (10) are an example of personification. The quote is personification because pity cannot actually wipe the narrator’s cheek dry. The narrator is saying that her lover might be staying with her because he ‘feels sorry for her’. The purpose of the personification is that her lover might be staying with her because he pities her, and she does not want him or his pity to wipe the tears from her cheek. The words, “her smile—her look—her way of speaking gently” (3-4) are an example of an asyndeton. The narrator is listing off qualities about why her lover might love her. The purpose of the asyndeton is the narrator listing off qualities that she does not want her lover to love her for. The words “love’s eternity” are an example of a hyperbole. The poet is stating that love is an eternal quality. The hyperbole is used to enhance the narrator’s opinion of love, and that she sees love as an eternal quality that should not be based on superficial qualities. The diction of the author helps to create imagery in the poem. The poem does not contain much imagery because the narrator is beseeching her lover, but there is some imagery. The lines, “For a trick of thought/That falls in well with mine, and certes bought/A sense of pleasant ease on such a day” (4-6) create an image of how she does not want her lover to have a “trick of thought” that brings a pleasing calmness. The lines, “A creature might forget to weep, who bore/Thy comfort long, and lose thy love nearby!” (11-12) create an image of what she does not want her and her lover’s relationship to end like. The narrator does not want her lover to love her because he pities her, because one day her tears will dry and then there will be nothing for him to love. The poem contains no symbolism, because she is simply asking her lover not to love her for beauty, comfort, or pity, but for love itself. The poem however, does contain a rhythm pattern. The poem is written in iambic pentameter which means there are 10 syllables per line and the first syllable is unstressed and the second syllable is stressed. The purpose of the iambic pentameter is to follow the specific rules of sonnets. A meter is used in the poem to create rhythm, and to help the poem to ‘flow’ better. The message of the poem is a message from the narrator to her lover. The message of the poem is telling the lover and the reader that they should not love someone for physical attribute that are inconstant and can change; rather they should love someone because they love them. The narrator feels that loving someone for “love’s sake” is the only love that lasts. The poet’s message is the same as the narrator’s because the narrator and the author are the same person. The mood of the poem is doubtful. The narrator doubts that her lover truly loves her for herself. When she says “If thou must love me”, the narrator is expressing that she does not completely believe that he loves her. The mood of the poem is also has a beseeching tone. The narrator is beseeching her lover to not love her for inconstant qualities, but to love her because he wants to love her.