How Do I Love Thee? ~ by 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.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806 – 1861) was a poet of the Romantic Movement of the Victorian Era. She married a fellow poet, Robert Browning, in a marriage forbidden by her father. Their love story is full of passion, drama, tragedy, and endurance. In this famous poem, she expresses the depth of a love that survives even death.
