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ELIZABETH BARRETT

BROWNING
(1806-1861)

SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE

(1845-46)

I

I thought once how Theocritus had sung Of the sweet years, the dear and wishedfor years,

Who each one in a gracious hand appears To bear a gift for mortals, old or young: And, as I mused it in his antique tongue, 5 I saw, in gradual vision through my tears, The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years,

Those of my own life, who by turns had flung

A shadow across me. Straightway I was 'ware,

So weeping, how a mystic Shape did move Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair;

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Never

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5

Alone upon the threshold of my door
Of individual life, I shall command
The uses of my soul, nor lift my hand
Serenely in the sunshine as before,
Without the sense of that which I for-
bore,

Thy touch upon the palm. The widest land

Doom takes to part us, leaves thy heart in mine

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Be changed, or change for thee, - and love so wrought

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When our two souls stand up erect and strong,

Face to face, silent, drawing nigh and nigher,

Until the lengthening wings break into fire At either curvèd point, what bitter wrong

Can the earth do to us, that we should not long

Be here contented?

higher,

5

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Think! in mounting Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for

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COVENTRY PATMORE

(1823-1896)

THE MARRIED LOVER

(From The Angel in the House, 1860: Book Second, Canto XII)

Why, having won her, do I woo? -
Because her spirit's vestal grace
Provokes me always to pursue,

But, spirit-like, eludes embrace;
Because her womanhood is such
That, as on court-days subjects kiss
The Queen's hand, yet so near a touch
Affirms no mean familiarness,—
Nay, rather marks more fair the height
Which can with safety so neglect
To dread, as lower ladies might,

5

10

That grace could meet with disrespect: Thus she with happy favor feeds

Allegiance from a love so high

That thence no false conceit proceeds
Of difference bridged, or state put by. -
Because, although in act and word

As lowly as a wife can be,

Her manners, when they call me lord,
Remind me 'tis by courtesy;

Not with her least consent of will,
Which would my proud affection hurt,
But by the noble style that still

Imputes an unattained desert.
Because her gay and lofty brows,
When all is won which hope can ask,
Reflect a light of hopeless snows
That bright in virgin ether bask;
Because, though free of the outer court
I am, this Temple keeps its shrine
Sacred to Heaven: because, in short,
She's not, and never can be, mine.

THE TOYS

(From The Unknown Eros, 1877)

15

20

25

30

My little Son, who looked from thoughtful

eyes

And moved and spoke in quiet grown-up

wise,

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