Sonnets from the Portuguese - Softcover

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. Her poetry was widely popular in both England and the United States during her lifetime. A collection of her last poems was published by her husband, Robert Browning, shortly after her death. "Portuguese" was a pet name her husband used. Sonnets from the Portuguese also refers to the series of sonnets of the 16th-century Portuguese poet Luís de Camões; in all these poems she used rhyme schemes typical of the Portuguese sonnets. The verse-novel Aurora Leigh, her most ambitious and perhaps the most popular of her longer poems, appeared in 1856. It is the story of a woman writer making her way in life, balancing work and love. The writings depicted in this novel are based on similar, personal experiences that Elizabeth suffered through herself. The North American Review praised Elizabeth’s poem in these words: “Mrs. Browning’s poems are, 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.”

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.' Elizabeth Barrett Browning defied her father's wishes to marry Robert Browning, and this sonnet cycle is a beautiful and memorable testament to the love they found together. The sonnets are full of intimate moments, yet never lose sight of the bigger things in life - devotion, fidelity and the inevitability of being finally parted by death. This sequence of poems can lay claim to being the only sonnet cycle in English which reflects requited, married love.