Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
Sonnets from the Portuguese: XII
1Indeed this very love which is my boast,
2And which, when rising up from breast to brow,
3Doth crown me with a ruby large enow
4To draw men’s eyes and prove the inner cost,—
5This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,
6I should not love withal, unless that thou
7Hadst set me an example, shown me how,
8When first thine earnest eyes with mine were crossed,
9And love called love. And thus, I cannot speak
10Of love even, as a good thing of my own:
11Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weak,
12And placed it by thee on a golden throne,—
13And that I love (O soul, we must be meek!)
14Is by thee only, whom I love alone.
Online text copyright © 2009, Ian Lancashire (the Department of English) and the University of Toronto.
Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.
Original text: A Selection from the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. First Series. New Edition. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1886. 1: 181-202.
First publication date:
1850
RPO poem editor: Marc R. Plamondon
RP edition: 2007
Recent editing: 2:2007/11/24
Composition date:
1846
Form: sonnet
Other poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
