Sonnets from the Portuguese

Sonnets from the Portuguese is a collection of love sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. First published in 1850, these passionate poems focus on Browning’s affection for her husband, famed poet Robert Browning. They are among the most famous sonnets in the English language. The title of the collection is deliberately obscure to disguise the personal and romantic nature of the poetry. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a well-known writer and literary reviewer during the Victorian period, and much of her writing is feminist in nature. She’s nevertheless best known for these romantic sonnets.

Sonnets from the Portuguese is comprised of forty-four sonnets. Robert Browning used to call his wife “the Portuguese,” which is why she chose this title. She spent much of her life ill and frail, and she never expected to find love. The sonnet collection reflects her shift from depression to joy and hopefulness. She credits her husband with making her feel alive again and giving her the courage to explore the world outside of her family home.

Sonnets 1 through 9 focus on the earliest stages of her relationship with her husband. In these sonnets, she muses over what it’s like to be alone while watching the vibrant, happy world go by without her. She wishes for her husband to go out there and find a wife who can have adventures with him, but she also acknowledges that she’s deeply in love with him.



Sonnet 1, “I thought once how Theocritus had sung,” expresses her feelings of woe as she realizes she won’t live a long and happy life. However, by the end of the sonnet, love embraces her and tells her that it will now be her constant companion, not death. This theme is continued in Sonnet 2, “But only three in all God’s universe,” where she contemplates what it’s like to never expect love. Sonnets 3 through 9 evoke deeply sensory language to express how she’ll never be the same now that she’s met Robert, but that he deserves better than her.

In Sonnet 10, “Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed,” Browning accepts how deeply she loves her husband and how much she longs for happiness. She considers what it means to love, and how God loves everyone who also loves Him. Love flows through her, and she accepts that she’s worthy of love as a child of God. This theme continues through the next few sonnets.

The next significant shift in Browning’s journey from woe to euphoria occurs in Sonnet 16, “And yet, because thou overcomes so.” She declares that Robert is strong enough to shatter her fears and look after her. Her pain and sorrow are at an end now that he is here. Sonnets 17 through 19 continue this theme, which culminates in Sonnet 20. The poems between 21 and 29 are largely passionate and romantic in nature.



By Sonnet 30, “I see thine image through my tears to-night,” Browning frets over how fragile love is, and how terrifying it is to give yourself over to a feeling so completely. The sonnets numbered 30 through 37 show Browning moving between confidence and doubt until she accepts that her husband loves her, and love wins the day. Sonnet 38 is an intimate love poem.

The run of sonnets between 38 and 42 develop Browning’s uninhibited feelings for her husband, and she’s now fully committed to life instead of death. She credits her husband with bringing her back from the dead and giving her the courage to dream and hope. Although she still can’t believe her luck in finding love, she’s determined to stop fretting over the past and instead enjoy the present.

Sonnet 43, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways,” is one of the most famous sonnets in the English language. It describes a love that will endure beyond death, one that can’t ever be properly measured. She loves Robert purely, and freely, with every fiber of her being, and her love is too powerful to ever be vanquished. Browning uses rich sensory language to convey how much she loves her husband, and how she struggles to comprehend the vastness of her own feelings.



Sonnet 44, “Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers,” is an equally infamous sonnet. It serves as a conclusion to the story Browning wove through the sonnet sequence—love triumphing over death. She offers these sonnets as a gift to her husband, if he will accept them. These poems are the only way she can express her feelings. Just as he brings her flowers and gifts, these sonnets are her offerings to him.

Browning uses natural language to describe how they’ve bound themselves entirely to each other, just as plants take root in the earth and soil. They are inextricably linked. Browning beseeches her husband to keep these sonnets close to his heart so that they’ll never be forgotten. It’s thanks to Robert Browning, and his insistence that she should publish her work, that we can enjoy these sonnets today.