Introduction
This essay seeks to compare Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s *Sonnet 43* from *Sonnets from the Portuguese* (1850) and Lord Byron’s *She Walks in Beauty* (1814), two seminal romantic poems that explore the theme of love through distinct perspectives and stylistic approaches. While both works celebrate an idealised form of affection, they differ significantly in tone, structure, and the portrayal of the beloved. This analysis will examine the thematic content, imagery, and linguistic choices in each poem, highlighting their similarities and differences. By doing so, it aims to illuminate how these texts reflect the Romantic era’s preoccupation with emotion and beauty, whilst also addressing the personal and cultural contexts that shape their expressions of love.
Thematic Exploration of Love
At their core, both *Sonnet 43* and *She Walks in Beauty* grapple with the concept of love, yet they present it in contrasting ways. Browning’s *Sonnet 43*, with its opening line, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” (Browning, 1850), adopts an introspective and deeply personal tone. The speaker enumerates the various dimensions of her love, ranging from the spiritual to the mundane, suggesting an all-encompassing devotion that transcends physicality. This aligns with the Romantic ideal of love as a profound, almost divine connection, arguably reflecting Browning’s own relationship with Robert Browning, to whom the sonnets were addressed (Leighton, 1986).
In contrast, Byron’s She Walks in Beauty offers a more detached and aesthetic admiration of the beloved. The poem, inspired by Byron’s glimpse of a beautiful woman at a social event, describes her as a harmonious blend of light and dark, embodying an idealised beauty: “She walks in beauty, like the night / Of cloudless climes and starry skies” (Byron, 1814). Unlike Browning’s intense personal investment, Byron’s speaker maintains a distance, focusing on external appearance rather than emotional depth. This difference highlights a key divergence: Browning’s love is internal and experiential, while Byron’s is observational and idealised, reflecting varying Romantic sensibilities towards passion and beauty (Perkins, 1992).
Imagery and Structure
The imagery employed in both poems further underscores their distinct approaches. In *Sonnet 43*, Browning uses metaphors of depth and height—“I love thee to the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach” (Browning, 1850)—to convey the boundless nature of her affection. The sonnet form itself, with its tight structure and volta, mirrors the controlled intensity of her emotions, a characteristic feature of the Petrarchan tradition adapted to personal expression (Leighton, 1986).
Byron, however, employs a more fluid and lyrical structure in She Walks in Beauty, with its three stanzas of six lines each. The imagery of light and darkness—“And all that’s best of dark and bright / Meet in her aspect and her eyes” (Byron, 1814)—creates a visual harmony that mirrors the beloved’s beauty. This balance suggests a classical ideal, somewhat at odds with the tumultuous emotional undercurrents often associated with Romanticism (Perkins, 1992). Therefore, while Browning’s imagery invokes a spiritual expansiveness, Byron’s remains grounded in sensory perfection, illustrating divergent interpretations of love’s essence.
Linguistic Choices and Tone
Linguistically, the poems also diverge in tone and style. Browning’s language in *Sonnet 43* is earnest and repetitive, with the anaphora of “I love thee” reinforcing the speaker’s unwavering commitment. This repetition, coupled with references to “soul” and “grace” (Browning, 1850), imbues the poem with a sacred quality, aligning love with religious devotion. Byron’s tone, on the other hand, is more measured and serene. His use of gentle, flowing language—“tender light” and “mellow’d” (Byron, 1814)—creates a sense of calm admiration, suggesting a love that is less consuming and more contemplative. Indeed, this contrast in linguistic intensity reflects the poets’ differing personal investments in their subjects, with Browning’s passion deeply felt and Byron’s more distanced.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while both *Sonnet 43* and *She Walks in Beauty* explore the theme of love within the Romantic tradition, they do so through markedly different lenses. Browning’s sonnet delves into a deeply personal and spiritual devotion, employing intense imagery and structured form to express boundless affection. Byron’s poem, conversely, offers a more detached admiration of physical beauty, using harmonious imagery and a lyrical style to idealise the beloved. These differences highlight the diversity within Romantic poetry, reflecting varied interpretations of love as both an intimate experience and an aesthetic ideal. Ultimately, comparing these works reveals the complexity of human emotion, inviting readers to consider how love can be both profoundly internal and visually captivating. Such insights remain relevant, prompting further exploration into how personal and cultural contexts shape literary expressions of affection across time.
References
- Browning, E. B. (1850) *Sonnets from the Portuguese*. Chapman and Hall.
- Byron, G. G. (1814) *Hebrew Melodies*. John Murray.
- Leighton, A. (1986) *Elizabeth Barrett Browning*. Harvester Press.
- Perkins, D. (1992) *A History of Modern Poetry: From the 1890s to the High Modernist Mode*. Harvard University Press.
