Elizabeth+Barrett+Browning

Biography Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6th, 1806 in Coxhoe Hall,Durham, England. She was the frist born of 12 and the first Barrett to be born in England. Her family had lived in Jamacia where they owned a sugar plantation, which depended upon slaves. Elizabeth was a writer from the begginnig. When she was 12 she wroth her first "epic" poem. It had four books of couplets that rhymed.At the age of 14, she had developed a lung illness, and when she was 15, she also suffered a spinal injury due to a fall. To make things worse her brother suddenly drowned and died. This shock was said to make her permanately invalid. However, despite her disabilities she continued to learn. She taught herself how to read Hebrew and later started to learn Greek. She was a Christian and became very active in the Bible and Missionary studies of her church. In 1826, she published her collection //An Essay On Mind And Other Poems.// Two years later her mother died. In 1832, her father had to sell their rural estate in Jamacia due to the abolition of slavery and carelessness of the plantations. Her family moved around alot until they found a permenant place in London. This is where she published her translation of //Prometheus Bound// by the Greek dramatist Aeschylus in 1833. Her father was a tyrant, and he started to send her siblings to Jamacia to work on the plantations. However, Elizabeth hated slavery,and she didn't want her siblings sent away. Even though her father was overprotective, he still supported Elizabeth to write. In 1838 she wrote //The Seraphem and Other Poems//. In 1843, she wrote //Cry of the Children// this talked about how she hated child labor in England. In 1844, Elizabeth's life changed. Robert Browning started to write to her, saying how much he loved her //Poems//. They kept on writing to each other. Soon they met and were engaged in 1845. Her father dissaproved the engagement, but Elizabeth and Robert aloped and secretly wed. Her father never forgave her, and they never spoke to eachother again. Mr. and Mrs. Browning ran off to Florence,Italy where Elizabeth's health improved. They lived in the villa of Casa Guidi. That is where she gave birth to her son, Robert Wideman Browning. She wrote //Casa Guidi Window//(1848-1851) In 1850, one of her best known books of poems, //Sonnets from the Portuguese,// was published. This contains 44 sonnets describing her love for Robert. Elizabeth Barrett Browning died on June 29, 1861 at the age of 55. Robert and her son went back to England.  The Lady's Yes  "Yes," I answered you last night;  "No," this morning, Sir, I say. Colours seen by candlelight, Will not look the same by day.
 * Elizabeth Barrett Browning **

When the viols played their best, Lamps above, and laughs below--- Love me sounded like a jest, Fit for Yes or fit for No.

Call me false, or call me free--- Vow, whatever light may shine, No man on your face shall see Any grief for change on mine.

Yet the sin is on us both--- Time to dance is not to woo--- Wooer light makes fickle troth--- Scorn of me recoils on you.

Learn to win a lady's faith Nobly, as the thing is high; Bravely, as for life and death--- With a loyal gravity.

Lead her from the festive boards, Point her to the starry skies, Guard her, by your truthful words, Pure from courtship's flatteries.

By your truth she shall be true--- Ever true, as wives of yore--- And her Yes, once said to you, SHALL be Yes for evermore. How Do I Love Thee? 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 grief's, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to loose 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.  Discontent Light human nature is too lightly tost And ruffled without cause, complaining on-- Restless with rest, until, being overthrown, It learneth to lie quiet. Let a frost Or a small wasp have crept to the inner-most Of our ripe peach, or let the willful sun Shine westward of our window,--straight we run A furlong's sigh as if the world were lost. But what time through the heart and through the brain God hath transfixed us,--we, so moved before, Attain to a calm. Ay, shouldering weights of pain, We anchor in deep waters, safe from shore, And hear submissive o'er the stormy main God's chartered judgments walk for evermore. The Lady's Yes Analysis
 * Rhyme Scheme:** ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJKL MNMN OPOP. This poem has a consistent rhume scheme, except for one part. One word will rhyme, then another word, then a word will rhyme with the first, and one word will rhyme with the second.
 * Reaction:** I really enjoyed this poem because it talks about love and what it take for a man to win a girl's heart. It says that a man must me trustworthy and faithful for a woman to truly love him. A man should protect the woman he loves and not be selfish. These qualities of a man will get a girl to say "Yes."
 * Poetic Devices:** Imagery: sight and Personification
 * Theme:** The theme is to have a have a good heart and a good mind. This is what will win a girl over. It's the inside that people look at. Looks and money will get you knowhere in a relationship, but if you have a pure heart and soul, you will go far.

How Do I Love Thee? Analysis
 * Rhyme Scheme:** ABBCABBC DEDEDE. This poem has a consistent rhyme scheme throughout the poem. One word will rhyme and then two will rhyme then a word will rhyme with the first.
 * Reaction:** I love this poem because it talks about love. It says that true love is everlasting, and even after you die, your love will not die. It talks about how much you love someone. It is more than anything else in the world. True love is so powerful, nothing can change that.
 * Poetic Devices:** Metaphor its comparing her love to different things, Imagery: sight and touch
 * Theme:** Nothing can compare with true love. It says that love is pure and true.

Discontent Analysis
 * Rhyme Scheme:** ABCA DEED FGFG HIH. At first it wasn't consistent with the first and second stanza, but the third and fourth were. 1st Stanza: A word will rhyme, then two words won't, then a word will rhyme with the first. 2nd Stanza: A word will rhyme, then two words will rhyme, then a word will rhyme with the first. 3rd Stanza:A word will rhyme, then another word, then a word will rhyme with the first word, then a word will rhyme with the second word. 4th stanza: a word will rhyme, then another, then a word will rhyme with the first.
 * Reaction:** I thought this poem had a good saying because it tals about how we don't take our life for granted. We don't stop and be thankful that we are alive. It seems like life is taken too lightly.
 * Poetic Devices:** Imagery the poem is appealing to sight. Metaphor an Personification are also used.
 * Theme:** We need to be thankful for every day we live, even every breath we take. We let our lives fly by withoput even thinking about how fortunate we are to live.

Hobbies: 1. Reading 2. Writing poems 3. Learning Greek and Hebrew 4. Working with the church Facts:
 * Wrote //Poems// in 1844.
 * Married Robert Browning who was also a poet.
 * Wrote //Aurora Leigh// in 1856.
 * Wrote //Poems before Congress// in 1860.
 * Her brother drowned, which was said to make her permanately invalid.
 * Robert called her ''my little Portuguese."

 Bibliography:
 * Renfroe, Erin M. " Elizabeth Barrett Browning ." __Erin's Poetry Palace__. 1 Mar.2010 < []>
 * Academy of American Poets. "Elizabeth Barrett Browning." __Poets.org.__ 1997-2010. 1 Mar.2010 <[]>
 * The Literature Network. "Elizabeth Barrett Browning." __The Literature Network__. 2000-2010. 2 Mar.2010 <[]>
 * Khurana, Simran. "How Do I love Thee?" __About.com: Quotations__. 2010. 4 Mar. 2010 <[]>
 * Khurana, Simran. "The Lady's Yes." __About.com: Quotations__. 2010. 4 Mar. 2010 <[]>
 * Khurana, Simran. "Discontent." About.com: Quotations. 2010. 4 Mar. 2010 <[]>
 * World Book Inc. "Browning, Elizabeth Barrett." //World Book Encyclopedia.// B· 2. Chicago: 2010. 3 Mar. 2010
 * Harper Collins Publishers, Inc. "Browning, Elizabeth Barrett." //Benet's Reader's Encyclopedia.// 4th Edition. New York: 1987. 3 Mar. 2010.