How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet 43)

Sonnet 43 is a classic expression of a Petrarchan sonnet. An autodidact in the literatures of Antiquity and the High Renaissance, Browning understood the mechanics of a Petrarchan sonnet. The 14 lines, standard in a sonnet, are divided into two sections: The first eight lines (the octave) set the basic situation and raise a critical question that is then answered in the sonnet’s closing six lines (the sestet).

In Browning’s Petrarchan sonnet, the octave introduces the premise: a lover inquiring about the depth of this love. The poet offers the response. The octave is posed as a challenge to the poet. The question relies on the strategy of subjecting the emotions, in this case love, to the logic of the intellect. Hence, the octave replies without irony or apology the several ways the poet loves the person referred to only as “thee.” In the octave, the poet presents a compelling inventory: This love is enduring, unselfish, pure, righteous, and a boundless source of comfort day in and day out. The repetition of the phrase “I love thee” in quick succession (Lines 5, 6, 7), a poetic device known as