Till Death Do Us Part

from Sonnets from the Portuguese
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 candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men might 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.

Elizabeth Barret Browning’s poem above is an ode to a pure form of love that is enduring even after death.” Portuguese  “  was a pet name Browning used . Sonnets from the Portuguese also refers to the series of sonnets of the 16^th century Portuguese poet Luis de Camoes  Her writings depicted her personal experiences and were described as “ in all respects, the utterance of a woman – of a woman of great learning, rich experience and powerful genius, uniting to her woman’s nature the strength which is sometimes thought peculiar to a man”.  The poem could allude to the poets marriage to the poet Robert Browning which was conducted in secret due to disapproval. Her husband was six years older and an invalid but she could not believe  the vigorous and worldly Robert Browning really loved her as much as he professed to.  Blanche may relate to the poet  and it can be inferred that so did Mitch’s dead wife who both loved their husbands beyond reason and convention.Ironically, even marriage vows are written as love enduring until, “death do us part”, but this romantic notion defies normal conventions. It may be inferred that the poet by implication realizes that even though you may love a person, you never fully appreciate them until you have lost them. After all it very easy to take someone for granted or even focus on their negatives when they are around.

Tenesse Williams alludes to this poem in A Street Car Named Desire, as inscribed on a lighter by Mitch’s dead girlfriend.

The poem is apt though not just for Mitch but for Blanche who views the lighter with great interest, as she recalls the poem and may remember her deceased husband that she had loved beyond reason.

Though love may be enduring and eternal the youth and beauty of Blanche is not. This ageing beauty desperately tries to hang on to her past like a time warp. She clings to her youth and the memories of her lost love but is fighting a losing battle with both which torments her to a point of madness. She turns to drink to try to erase her memories or perhaps forget the present and be transported to the past. She is traumatized by the betrayal of her husband in catching him red handed in a homosexual act, the real love denied by him as he is unable to love her as a wife in every sense, her disgust and anger and ultimate shock at his suicide which she drove him to through her taunts. In a parallel to the poem, she only truly appreciated his qualities and forgives him after death, so as in the last line “I shall but love thee better after death”. Unfortunately, though she is unable to forgive herself and tries to make up for the void in her life by turning to the bottle and becoming promiscuous. In the arms of men literally and in the arms of the bottle of alcohol she begs for love but finds none. Blanche, has lost her innocence as well as her youth and faith. She has abandoned her highly respected post as a teacher and turned to prostitution even having a dalliance with her seventeen year old student. In denial, she tries to hide her sordid past and alcoholic habits in an almost childish belief that by sticking her head in the ground like an ostrich then none of the ‘bad stuff” exists. She is haunted by music that she cannot get out of her head as she transports herself to a fair tale fantasy where she is young, beautiful, happy and in love. Her real life story though is far from a fairy tale and she is no Cinderalla about to find her prince. In the poem the poet talks about “old griefs”, “childhood faith” and “lost saints”. This relates well to Blanche and her lost of innocence, morality (she is no saint) and has past grief. However, Blanche has not lost her childhood faith, she is still a child at heart and still believes with endearing naiveté that a happy ending is around the corner. However, in her pursuit of Mitch her expectations are now more realistic than overtly romantic. She is counting her losses and settling for the first man who can provide her emotional and financial security as she attempts to trap him in her web of lies, all the while still emotionally clinging to her dead husband.

The poem with religious connotations speaks of love enduring even when seeking righteousness, “strive for Right” and fall from right as when religion is abandoned and God no longer praised, “turn from Praise,” and “if God choose”, “grace”. And “soul”. However, Blanche does not in the play show any real religious inclination or faith in God. She turns instead to her own inner strength and resolve to get through her troubles never confiding in even her own sister, Stella or God in prayers. This could be an extension of her denial as speaking even to God would be admitting to the severity of her problems. Instead she smiles, sings and gaily puts on the brave face. This is shown in the end (when she loses Mitch)  when she weaves a tale about a gentleman with money who will rescue her and her high society invites. Sadly Blanche needs rescuing from herself. When they come to take her away to the asylum she continues the dance of denial in her rose tinted world.

Blanche needs to break away from the theme of everlasting love of the poem. She needs to put the past to rest and move on. Her lack of closure and her self denial imprisons her in a prison of her own making. The memories of past grief’s including the family deaths and her childhood estate and glory and prestige haunt her. Loss and a state of everything in her life being transient and temporary is the norm in her life. This could be the reason as reflected in the poem she hangs on to her first and true love as the only constant and permanence in her life. And perhaps this love is the only real, true and purity of being she has found in her life, which erases all her sordid behavior, “I love thee purely.”


Sources:


"Sonnets from the Portuguese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia."Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnets_f 



"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. (Sonnet 43) Analysis." Shmoop: Homework Help, Teacher Resources, Test Prep. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2012. <http://www.shmoop.com/how-do-i-love-thee-sonnet-43/analysis.html>.