Sonnets from the Portuguese: Illuminated by the Brownings' Love Letters
"I love your verse with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett . . . and I love you too," Robert Browning wrote in January 1845, thus initiating the most celebrated literary correspondence of the nineteenth century. During their courtship, Elizabeth privately wrote a series of forty-four sonnets to Robert, which she disclosed to no one — not even to him — until three years after their marriage. The poems were later collected in a volume entitled Sonnets form the Portuguese. In this elegant new...
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"I love your verse with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett . . . and I love you too," Robert Browning wrote in January 1845, thus initiating the most celebrated literary correspondence of the nineteenth century. During their courtship, Elizabeth privately wrote a series of forty-four sonnets to Robert, which she disclosed to no one — not even to him — until three years after their marriage. The poems were later collected in a volume entitled Sonnets form the Portuguese. In this elegant new edition, the poems are accompanied by relevant excerpts from Elizabeth and Robert's love letters. With an introduction by biographer Julia Markus, this volume will be a valued resource for the poetry scholar and those wanting wise and lyrical guidance in matters of love.
Sonnets from the Portuguese\ Illuminated by the Elizabeth Barrett Browning Love Letters \ \ By Elizabeth Barrett Browning \ Ecco Press\ Copyright © 1996 Elizabeth Barrett Browning\ All right reserved. \ ISBN: 0880014512 \ \ \ \ Chapter One\ Sonnet One\ \ I thought once how Theocritus had sung\ Of the sweet years, the dear and wished for years,\ Who each one in a gracious hand appears\ To bear a gift for mortals, old or young:\ And, as I mused it in his antique tongue,\ I saw, in gradual vision through my tears,\ The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,\ Those of my own life, who by turns had flung\ A shadow across me. Straightway I was 'ware,\ So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move\ Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair;\ And a voice said in mastery while I strove,\ 'Guess now who holds thee?' - 'Death!' I said, But there,\ The silver answer rang. . . Not Death, but Love.'\ \ \ \ \ Continues...\ \ \ \ Excerpted from Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning Copyright © 1996 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Excerpted by permission.\ All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.\ Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site. \ \
