Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
Sonnets from the Portuguese: XXXII
1The first time that the sun rose on thine oath
2To love me, I looked forward to the moon
3To slacken all those bonds which seemed too soon
4And quickly tied to make a lasting troth.
5Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe;
6And, looking on myself, I seemed not one
7For such man’s love!—more like an out-of-tune
8Worn viol, a good singer would be wroth
9To spoil his song with, and which, snatched in haste,
10Is laid down at the first ill-sounding note.
11I did not wrong myself so, but I placed
12A wrong on thee. For perfect strains may float
13’Neath master-hands, from instruments defaced,—
14And great souls, at one stroke, may do and doat.
Notes
8] viol: a bowed, stringed musical instrument from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, similar to the modern violin family
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
