Comments | michcapish: Elizabeth Barrett Browning

michcapish

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Nov 17, 2004 20:20

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I loved this line the first moment I read it. I know that many people think it's cliche but to me it never loses its power. There is something about answering a question by an answer so succinct and yet so profound you're left stumped. I like that. :P ( Read more... )

Comments 10

deja vu jnieva1220 November 17 2004, 04:20:41 UTC

girl: do you still look at other girls?
boy: there are no other girls.

feelin' sap-a-licious are we???

Re: deja vu michcapish November 17 2004, 18:50:52 UTC

i luv what your boy said. that's mos def the best contemporary line i've heard. :P hey, is he into writing and reading as much as you are?

m

Re: deja vu jnieva1220 November 18 2004, 12:43:48 UTC

he loves to read
but he's not a writer

the boy is definitely a sweetie

rancor4real November 17 2004, 17:47:00 UTC

I don't know if you know this but E.B.B.'s sonnets are my all time favorites. She's brilliant. There's not a woman in the world, who if one were to properly reveal any one of those sonnets, wouldn't fall immediately and hopelessly intoxicated by that ether that is love. To me, her writing is very mystical in that, once you've really touched the true beauty of it, you never look at life, love nor literature the same way again. Elizabeth had a unique view in this world. I love her from across the strands of time.

michcapish November 17 2004, 18:45:35 UTC

i didn't know that. i am imagining her language/poems as how they would have been in the mid1800s. the fact that i can still relate to them now amazes me. just shows how good she is. she is also one of the first women to push for the abolition of slavery. all in all a brilliant person. like you say.:)

rancor4real November 17 2004, 19:26:36 UTC

look at them as the whole. you'll note that from the very first one she talks about her illness having been at the edge of the grave and speaks of mistaking death for love at first and says of Robert, "I yeild the grave for thy sake..." I can't imagine more powerful words than to realize that love was the force of a spiritual resurrection for her. It is truly one of life's amazing love stories.

The other sonnets continue to progress in a like manner. Lots of religious metaphors where love blossoms and converts like bodily resurrection from Death. it's beautiful stuff.

You might want to know that Robert threatened to disown his parents had they not abandon their sugar cane plantations in the carribean isles. A bit of a Dandy when it came to manner of dress and lifestyle it was a testament to the seriousness of his position and somewhat of an embarrassment as the Brownings enjoyed a family name of high reputation.

They were quite the couple... and it was quite a love.
...Those of my own life, who by turns had flung ( ... )

michcapish November 17 2004, 20:00:06 UTC

robert did that? cool. you probly know that elizabeth's dad owned a sugar cane plantation in jamaica so not surprisingly, he wasn't too pleased with lizzie's anti-slavery stance. (source: google :P)

i like the sonnet below because it's not as often quoted and quite playful.
XXXIII

Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear
The name I used to run at, when a child,
From innocent play, and leave the cowslips plied,
To glance up in some face that proved me dear
With the look of its eyes. I miss the clear
Fond voices which, being drawn and reconciled
Into the music of Heaven's undefiled,
Call me no longer. Silence on the bier,
While I call God--call God!--so let thy mouth
Be heir to those who are now exanimate.
Gather the north flowers to complete the south,
And catch the early love up in the late.
Yes, call me by that name,--and I, in truth,
With the same heart, will answer and not wait.

thanks!

m

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