Sonnets From the Portuguese
By Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Sonnet I

Sarabeth Hogshire

2-25-09

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote Sonnets from the Portuguese as a collection of love poems about her husband. Before she met him she wrote mainly about political issues, but afterwards she wrote mainly about love. This poem is about a woman looking back on her life in adulthood thinking that perhaps she did not get the most out of it, and that she would die having led a boring and uneventful life. However, to her surprise, love finds her.
This poem reflects Elizabeth Barrett Brownings own life in many ways. She grew up in a very oppressive household with a father who was extremely controlling. She remained in her childhood home throughout most of her adulthood, expecting to be an old maid, until she met her husband Robert Browning. Robert Browning saved her from her childhood home and gave her the life she never thought she could have, and that is what this poem is about.
Contextually this poem is divided into three parts. The first part consists of the first four lines. They introduce poetry that Browning was reading written by Theocritus. His poem discusses the passing of time throughout one’s life. Theocritus sees each passing year as a gift, expressing his view that life is a wonderful thing to experience. This serves to later contrast how Browning viewed her own life.
The second part of the poem consists of the next four lines. They reveal Browning’s thoughts on Theocritus’ poem. She looks at her own life not as a gift, but as sad, empty, mediocre years. Her description of the passing of time throughout one’s life is completely opposite of Theocritus view of life. She makes this clear by describing her life as “the sweet, sad years, the melancholy years…” I love Browning’s use of the “….” because it reflects so well how she was in a very pensive mood.
The last part of the poem consists of the last six lines, it also contains the turn in the poem. At first, Browning sees herself aging and acknowledges a change in her life. Initially she thinks this change is Death coming to claim her, but she realizes that it is love entering her life. Because Browning remained in her childhood home for so long, she thought the next big thing to happen to her would be her death, but she is surprised when love enters her life.
The rhyme scheme of this poem is almost Petrarchian. It has a ABBA ABBA CDC CDC rhyme scheme, so it follows Petrarchian rules for the first eight lines, but not the last six. Another quality that makes it almost Petrarchian is the fact that there is a volta, or turn, in the ninth line. Browning goes from passively contemplating her wasted years, to being aware that something is about to happen that will drastically change her situation.

*Some biographical information from:
http://lovepoems.yu-hu.com/e-browning/I_thought_once_how_Theocritus_had_sung.shtml