- Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Wikimedia Commons
The speaker in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 41” from Sonnets from the Portuguese focuses on gratitude for all who have loved her, while hoping that she will be able to express the extent of her gratitude to her belovèd.
First Quatrain: “I thank all who have loved me in their hearts”
The speaker begins with a simple statement thanking “all who have loved me in their hearts.” She then offers her own heart’s love in return. Continuing, she expresses her gratitude as “deep thanks” to all those who have paid some attention to her, especially when they listened to her complaints.
She metaphorically characterizes her tantrum-like outbursts as “music” with “louder parts.” The speaker demands decorum for herself that will not allow her to demonize herself even as she freely admits error and sorrowful dissatisfaction. The pain in her life has motivated her to expressions, as heretofore love never had.
Second Quatrain: “Ere they went onward, each one to the mart’s”
All the others who had paid her attention, however, were otherwise engaged; some had to scurry off to shopping, others to church, and they all remained far from her. She could not reach them, if she even had needed them.
Of course, her belovèd not only is near to listen to her pleasantries but also remains to hear her sorrows. Her belovèd would stop his own musing to attend to her, and she now feels safe in vocalizing her complete attention to his patience and devotion.
First Tercet: “Own instrument didst drop down at thy foot”
The speaker is grateful that her belovèd would even interrupt his own work of “divinest Art’s” to attend to her needs and “hearken what I said between my tears.” But in offering such gratitude, the speaker implies that she actually does not know how to thank him for such devotion.
Thus she demands of him, “Instruct me how to thank thee!” She feels she lacks the words to convey such gratitude; her need is so great, and her gratitude seems so paltry to fulfill the debt she owes him.
Second Tercet: “My soul’s full meaning into future years”
The speaker then projects a deep desire that her soul can reveal sometime in future just how grateful she is to her belovèd. She hopes that she can fill her “future years” with evidence of her thankfulness.
She prays that her very being will be able to “salute / Love that endures, from Life that disappears!” Even though the living are in a state of gradual dying, she prays that the love that she has received will somehow be returned along with the sincere gratitude she now feels.
Linda Sue Grimes - As a writer, researcher, and SRF devotee, Linda Sue Grimes has studied poetry and practiced Kriya Yoga for over thirty years..
