Love Poetry . . .

Sigh

Sonnet
- a poem having 14 lines
- usually in iambic pentameter (10 syllables per line)
- certain arrangement of rhyme
- Elizabethan or Shakespearean sonnet has:
- first twelve lines are made up of three verses of four lines called quatrains
- the usual rhyme scheme is abab, cdcd, efef
- the last two lines are a couplet

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43) - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1806 - 1861

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130) - William Shakespeare, 1564 - 1616

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
 Love Poetry . . . Sigh

Beguiling Eyes - Stephen Fearing

You have the most beguiling eyes

That I have ever seen

They can catch me up and spin me

Or leave me in a dream

And though the words you speak are truthful

You know you hurt me when you say

That the times you spend with me

Are but a small part of your day

‘Cause it seems that I’m the one


That always comes a-calling

And I’m asking you away

From other friends

But I’m waiting for the sound

Of your step outside my door

When the sun is setting low

And the evening ends

I have always thought


That the future’s what you make it

And I’ve always believed

That my actions were my own

But tell me can you see

That to give without receiving

Is bound to leave my heart

like a piece of molten stone

‘Cause it seems that I’m the one


That always comes a-calling

And I’m asking you away

From other friends

But I’m waiting for the sound

Of your step outside my door

When the sun is setting low

And the evening ends

Questions:

1. Do you like or dislike “How Do I Love Thee?” and why?

2. What is Shakespeare’s take on love from reading Sonnet 130?

3. Identify at least 5 poetic devices in “Beguiling Eyes”.