Essay On Elizabeth Barrett Browning

There is a fine line between what an artist wants to say and what he or she actually composes. What makes poetry desirable to read is that it is philosophically attractive to a reader whether as a whole or just a piece. Elizabeth Barrett Browning is one author who I feel hides messages in her complex yet simple Sonnets. She takes a realm of surreal thinking and succumbs to a deep pool of intellect that a reader needs to reread several times to get a full in depth meaning and understanding of her work. I would like to analyze three pieces of art she has published in order to convey to you that what she writes on the paper physically may not be what she entails mentally Symbolizes play a big part in deferring literal and interpretation. Taking a look at Browning 's life she was an Italian from Florence. She wrote herself in her poems by the name of Ariardian a women who reflected many characteristics of Elizabeth. Browning was in love with a man to whom her father resented, but she married him anyway. Her father and husband are both symbols in her poetry. “How Bacchus comforts Ariadne,” the reader is able to see how much better off Ariadne is with Bacchus. For example, Bacchus basically tells her “why have a mortal when you can have a god?” and that neither Gnossus (Knossos) nor Athens could compare to Olympus and what he could offer her. ( Andrew Moeller) Moeller suggest Browning is using Bacchus as a symbol of her father. Adriadne is torn between true love and what is right. But who is to say true love was not the “right” way to go. As Bacchus portrays Elizabeth 's father telling her why go off with browning when you can stay here at home in Italy with your father and be protected. In the poem Bacchus is doing the same thing; saying why go off with a mortal when you can be with a god. If Browning was writing about her life in this poem why would she not just say that her father did not want her to marry this man? Maybe Elizabeth was afraid of exposing her controlling father so she gave him a greek name Bacchus meaning “to shout” implying her father was out spoken and maybe did not let her express her individuality. And she wrote poetry in order to express her feelings toward her real life situations. Poetry was her escape from the real world, and change for her to get her story out without exposing what may have been painful to her emotionally. In the works published by Elizabeth called Sonnets from the Portuguese not a one poem is titles yet names are given to them from the first line. “The sonnet begins with the poet talking directly to her lover. She says to him that if he must love her, he should love her only for the sake of love and for no other reason. She says “only” to emphasize that feeling to the utmost. She says not to love her for the cheer of her smile, nor for beauty or the singular nature of her countenance. …show more content…
“The theme is that love is not an earthly concept but an eternal, everlasting thing that lasts well beyond the cold grave. The poem is not related to how she loves or why, but just the way in which she does so; freely and purely. They had never met but they were just expressing how much they loved each other and this is one of the love poems that they shared. She defines herself with the ways she love Robert. She certainly would not be the speaker of the poem without her love, or her beloved. This actually what makes this poem very sensitive. Besides her love to Robert she actually has admiration toward him.” (Eliteskills.com) Looking back on Browning’s life it is understood that she had a rough road between her and her father. I feel she does not confront him in anyway other than poetry. Other than her undying love for her husband I feel she writes her poetry to prove to her father that her love is real and to show him that she is doing just fine with the man he had