“How Shall I Love You?” is a poem that pays homage to Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s classic sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?”. By mimicking Browning’s introspective and expressive style, it explores the depths and dimensions of love, reflecting on the myriad ways one can express profound affection and devotion. Through its thoughtful imitation, the poem celebrates the timeless theme of love and the influence of literary tradition.
How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806 – 1861
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 every day’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 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.
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How Do I Love You?
In Imitation of Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love you? Let me count the ways.
I love you to the depth and breadth and height
At the moment when the spirit does sight,
A sky with no limit, all heady and ablaze.
I love you in the most irritating moments of the days
When you forget to call and are often so late.
I love you like the spirit, shunning wrong or right.
I love thee as I want, at times just a trace.
And then with the passion I set to chase
All I want, the dreams to live, the walls to scale.
I love you with the love I seem to lose
Every time I give up those. I love you as I inhale,
The joy and pain and all in between; and, if the spirit choose,
I shall but love thee better after next cocktail.