What poets say about love
Part 3
I would not be a rose upon the wall
A queen might stop at, near the palace-door,
To say to a courtier, “Pluck that rose for me,
It’s prettier than the rest.” O Romney Leigh!
I’d rather far be trodden by his foot,
Than lie in a great queen’s bosom.
E. B. Browning—Aurora Leigh. Bk. IV. 22
But I love you, sir:
And when a woman says she loves a man,
The man must hear her, though he love her not.
E. B. Browning—Aurora Leigh. Bk. IX. 23
For none can express thee, though all should approve thee.
I love thee so, Dear, that I only can love thee.
E. B. Browning—Insufficiency. 24
Behold me! I am worthy
Of thy loving, for I love thee!
E. B. Browning—Lady Geraldine’s Courtship. St. 79. 25
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
E. B. Browning—Sonnets from the Portuguese. 26
Who can fear
Too many stars, though each in heaven shall roll—
Too many flowers, though each shall crown the year?
Say thou dost love me, love me, love me—toll
The silver iterance!—only minding, Dear,
To love me also in silence, with thy soul.
E. B. Browning—Sonnets from the Portuguese. Sonnet XXI. 27
Unless you can feel when the song is done
No other is sweet in its rhythm;
Unless you can feel when left by one
That all men else go with him.
E. B. Browning—Unless. 28
I think, am sure, a brother’s love exceeds
All the world’s loves in its unworldliness.
Robert Browning—Blot on the ’Scutcheon. Act II. Sc. 1. 29
Never the time and the place
And the loved one all together.
Robert Browning—Never the Time and the Place. 30
God be thanked, the meanest of his creatures
Boasts two soul-sides, one to face the world with,
One to show a woman when he loves her.
Robert Browning—One Word More. St. XVII. 31
Other Links:
To the Lighthouse
Extract from the Conclusion of a Poem
To the Lighthouse
