Sonnets from the Portuguese: X
Sonnets from the Portuguese: X
Original Text
A Selection from the Poetry of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. First Series. New Edition. London: Smith, Elder, & Co., 1886. 1: 181-202.
1Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed
2And worthy of acceptation. Fire is bright,
3Let temple burn, or flax; an equal light
4Leaps in the flame from cedar-plank or weed:
5And love is fire. And when I say at need
6I love thee . . . mark! . . . I love thee—in thy sight
7I stand transfigured, glorified aright,
8With conscience of the new rays that proceed
9Out of my face toward thine. There’s nothing low
10In love, when love the lowest: meanest creatures
11Who love God, God accepts while loving so.
12And what I feel, across the inferior features
13Of what I am, doth flash itself, and show
14How that great work of Love enhances Nature’s.
Publication Start Year
1850
RPO poem Editors
Marc R. Plamondon
RPO Edition
2007
Form