Question

Read sonnet 13 by elizabeth barrett browning now. it is located on page 76 of your journeys anthology. what does this poem say the beloved wants the speaker to do? how does she respond to his request? what does her response suggest about her and about her feelings for her beloved? use examples from the text in your response.

Answer 1

By reading the poem Sonnet 13 by Elizabeth Barrett, it's possible to understand that the beloved wants the speaker to find enough words to express her love. The poem says "The love I bear thee, finding words enough, And hold the torch out, while the winds are rough, Between our faces, to cast light on each?" using images to imply that it is asked from the speaker that she finds the words to express what is inside of her, by "holding the torch out", even though the winds are rough, what could put her feelings in danger. The beloved requires that the speaker would cast "light" on both of their faces, enlighting their connection and relationship, and that could only be done if she took action "into speech", as the poem says, "finding words enough" to express herself.

The speaker responds to the beloved's request by questioning it, which can be understood because she ends up "(...) to cast light on each?" with a question mark. Moreover, the speaker says "I cannot teach My hand to hold my spirit so far off From myself (...) of love hid in me out of reach". The poem implies that the beloved's request is impossible to be fulfilled because it is out of her reach. Expressing her love is something that the speaker can't "teach" herself, because that would drive her most deep emotions, her "spirit", away. She ends up saying "Nay, let the silence of my womanhood Commend my woman-love to thy belief (...) By a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude, Lest one touch of this heart convey its grief" which means that she denies the beloved's request, by letting her silence commit and honor her "woman-love", her feelings, in a fortitude held with determination. The speaker intends to avoid the risk of love end up causing loss and grief in her life, even if it's the loss of herself.

The speaker response suggests that she has real feelings, that they are strong inside herself. They are pictured as a "torch" capable to "cast light on each". When she says "love hid", it can be understood that the love is there, but hidden inside her and that expressing it would be betraying herself. Putting her love in speech, transforming it into words, the speaker would risk her spirit and deepest identity. She denies the beloved's request, which means that she has a strong personality, that she knows herself, and is not willing to put her most precious feelings at risk. The poem says "(...) I stand unwon, however wooed", what proves how difficult it is to "win" the speaker and make her break her fortitude. However, she can also be seen as a person scared of opening up and taking risks, who always prefers to stay in omission.