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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 23 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

Poet Analysis

First Line: IS IT INDEED SO? IF I LAY HERE DEAD
Last Line: MY NEAR SWEET VIEW OF HEAVEN, FOR EARTH WITH THEE!
Subject(s): LOVE; SACRIFICES; HEAVEN; PARADISE;

Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead,
Wouldst thou miss any life in losing mine?
And would the sun for thee more coldly shine
Because of grave-damps falling round my head?
I marvelled, my Beloved, when I read
Thy thought so in the letter. I am thine --
But ... so much to thee? Can I pour thy wine
While my hands tremble? Then my soul, instead
Of dreams of death, resumes life's lower range.
Then, love me, Love! look on me -- breathe on me!
As brighter ladies do not count it strange,
For love, to give up acres and degree,
I yield the grave for thy sake, and exchange
My near sweet view of Heaven, for earth with thee!



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