Topic > Ways of Loving Someone in Sonnet 43 by William Shakespeare

In sonnet 43, Elizabeth Barrett shows all the ways she is capable of loving someone and how great and strong love truly is. It presents all the possible ways in which he can love someone and also presents the strength of the love he feels. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Start by asking a question "How do I love you? Let me count the ways!" This is a powerful opening because it uses an exclamation point which gives this part more emphasis and brings out the theme of the poem (which is how someone can love). The use of monosyllables makes it even stronger and more powerful. The fact that he uses the phrase "Let me count the ways!" implies that there are many ways and reasons why he loves that person. Secondly, saying “I love you as deep and as wide and as high as my soul can reach.” This tells us that his love was immense and immeasurable. By using the words "depth, breadth and height" he tries to give the dimensions of his love so that it can be understood. On the other hand, he uses "soul" to specify that his love is eternal and has no end because his "soul" also has no end; so his love will be as deep, wide and high as his "soul" can reach. Third, it says “I love you at the level of the quietest need of each day.” With this sentence the poet is saying that she loves him as she loves the small but significant things of every day. Her love for him was necessary just like those little things that happen every day but no matter how small they may seem they make people happy and she felt happy loving him. He also says "in the sunshine and the candlelight", these words say that his love was there all day, all night and nothing would change him. Furthermore, even though her love for him was passionate and strong, she still loved him on a daily basis, but this did not make the love less meaningful, rather it made it more worthy. The poet goes on to say, "I will love you freely, as men strive for good." She uses “loosely” to say that her love for him is. Furthermore, by using “how men fight for right” we can understand that “fighting for rights” is not something that should be done instead it is something that you have the desire to do and that is exactly the love you feel for him. It's not the kind of forced love, instead it's the kind of love that comes from within. In the next line, he says “I love you purely, as they turn away from praise.” This tells us that, first, his love is pure and honest; he doesn't need anyone's admiration. It's just the kind of love that doesn't need any recognition to exist; therefore his love is pure and does not seek any reward. Since her love is "pure", she doesn't expect to be admired or praised for saying all the reasons why she loves him. Barrow continues to list how she loves him by saying "I love you with the passion put to good use in my old love." pains,... and with the faith of my childhood". The "old pains" represent the strength and intensity of his love, because when you think about things that went wrong in the past, most of the time there is anger passionate; this "passionate", bitter feeling is what the poet transforms into passionate and strong love. Furthermore, he says that he loves him with "the faith of my childhood". This is a very powerful metaphor that suggests how honest, strong and truly he is this love is indestructible. Child is innocent, naive and simple; their faith is strong, they believe everything and have no doubts so her love for him is exactly like this. Barrett lists another way of loving by saying "I love you with a love that I seemed to lose with my lost saints -". In this particular metaphor, once again, it speaks of love, faith and the.