Analysis of Elizabeth Browning’s “How do I love Thee?”

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Analysis of the Elizabeth Browning’s “How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways”
There are different reasons why a person loves another person. This listing lies in conjunction with the sonnet written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning called “How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways.” Elizabeth Browning made this sonnet during the 19th century of the Victorian era to express her affections towards love (Spacey); however, during that era, the Victorian society was overruled by male dominant traditions where the role of women as a literary creator is neglected by the patriarchal system and had been marginalized or ignored (David 1). Elizabeth Barrett Browning managed to avoid the apparent sex alienation by explaining to other people that her written works are just translations of a work previously made by a Portuguese just to find a loophole to the problematic era of discrimination towards women's intellectual property (Spacey). These literary pieces were praise and widely accepted by different people, especially Robert Browning, whom eventually became her husband, where she reportedly dedicated most of her works. Although Elizabeth Browning sonnet “How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways” shows the recurring themes of love, the metaphorical language contained in the sonnet should be further elaborated to fully appreciate its overlying emotional appeal.
Browning used metaphors on the first part of the sonnet in order to represent the extent and intensity of which love can reach. On the first four lines, Elizabeth Browning dedicated her views about the reach and dimension of love. As seen in the very first line, Browning used the question, "How do I love thee?" to imply that a person can have multiple varying reasons to love a person. Browning used the word "thee" to render love as genderless and universal (Spacey). On the second line, Elizabeth used a repetition of the word "thee" to further emphasize that love is for all regardless of who you are. Additionally, Browning measured the length of which her love can reach using her soul, as read in the sonnet, "My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight." She is implying a dimensional or a spatial metaphor on how far her love can reach (Sanders). In this case, even though Browning is not around, her love’s radiating grace can still reach her loved one. On lines five to six, Browning now used a time metaphor to where her love is felt from morning to evening, which ca...