Romance

On March 6, 1806 the poet  Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born.  Married to the poet Robert Browning, she charts the development of their relationship in her Sonnets from the Portuguese.  Her feelings of inadequacy. her fears for her life, evolve  to joy in her love's return.  In  Sonnet XLIII she defines her love for her husband.

​XLIII  

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 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.