Question

Compare and contrast Red Red Rose by Robert Browning with Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Answer 1

"A Red, Red rose" written by Robert Burns in the 16th century, is a romantic poem in which the author used metaphors to describe love in a fantastic, dream-like manner, exaggerating even the lenght of his love to a time in which the sea would be dry. The author's style and composition, used to recreate a traditional Scottish song, creates a very strong rythmic pattern that never breaks throughout the poem, giving the reader the feeling of very intense passion, not only through hyperboles and simile, but through the repetion of the poem's mood.

"Sonnet 43" or "How do I love thee" written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a 17th century poem which also eludes to romance but in terms that seem less stereotypical than Burns' poem. In it, Barrett Browning starts by asking a question and proceeding to answer throughout the poem, using anaphora to give emphasis to the purpose of her description of love. Unlike "A Red, Red rose", "Sonnet 43" uses more analogy than metaphor to describe the deep mood of love, comparing the author's feeling to strong sentiments of men and the bearings of her childhood.

Both poems exagerrate the amount of love felt by both authors for their loved ones and the lenght of time their love will last.

Burns gives his love a sense of immortality by writing: "And I will luve thee still, my dear,

Till a’ the seas gang dry:"

and Barrett browning writes: "I shall but love thee better after death."

Answer 2

When comparing the poems "Red Red Rose", by Robert Burns, and "Sonnet 43", by Elizabeth Barret Browning, one can see that both poems are from the Romantic Period. The Romantic Period, or School, was an artistic movement originated in Europe at the end of the 18th century that had its marking characteristics and some of them can be found in both poems, such as emotion, the sublime and heroism. Others can be seen more in one than in the other, as the presence of nature and the adoration of the past.

Both talk about an infinite love that will last forever because of extreme dedication and self-compliance, almost like in heroic acts. "So deep in luve am I; And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a’ the seas gang dry" says Burns, implying that his feelings would never end. "I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death" says Browning, conveying that her love was complete and eternal. The speakers in both poems are willing to keep fidelity to their feelings even after death, or "Though it were ten thousand mile", as the last line of Red Red Rose states.

Moreover, both poems express a lot of emotion in their speakers' words by using adjectives and overstatements, creating emotional exaggerations and associations to purity and perfection. "O my Luve is like the melody That’s sweetly played in tune" says Burns, adding there also a sensory detail, which is also considered a Romantic characteristic. "I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight" says Browning, also expressing here extreme idealization.

Also, both poems bring within them an adoration that follows the sublime parameters. In Burns' poem, the sublime appears through nature, since the speaker associates his lover to nature, and nature to power and destiny. "O my Luve is like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in June;" he says, and also "Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;" Now, in Browning's poem, the sublime comes in the divinity form, and the act of love is much more associated to a daily investment, a daily sacrifice. "I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light", "I love thee purely, as they turn from praise" and "I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith" she says, showing the reader how her love can be felt in "use", inside her practical life as guidance, almost like a religion. Here, in this passages, it can also be observed that Elizabeth Browning adds to her poem traces from her past, which is something the Romantic used to use as a reference to greatness.