Poem:
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.
I found this poem while reading through the 'recommended/required poems' list on Mr. Tso's Poetry Unit document. I found the title of the work interesting, and when I went to look at the poem, I came to appreciate the attractive layout of the words, and how the rhythms and ideas of those words come together to weave a flowing, graceful picture depicting the speaker's affection towards his love interest.
The poem is written with ease for the mouth, rhythm, expression meant to play large roles in its reading. As I read it in my head, I can't help but slip into a very even, stately beat while reading the lines of this work. The ends of the lines are made to rhyme, and this short but sweet poem follows a variation of the common AABB rhyming format, utilizing an ABBC ABBC DEDEDE pattern to convey its message. As a fairly experienced musician, I admire the thought that would have went into creating this method of rhyming and the ease it brings the reader when they lay their eyes on this piece.
This poem, as are other such romantic poems, is very endearing and meant to reach your emotions and express itself to them. Its message is that the speaker admires and adores everything about the subject, who we can assume to be his romantic interest, and I can appreciate the delicacy used to compose this flowing words.
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