Sonnet XXXVI: When We Met First

Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)



When we met first and loved, I did not build
Upon the event with marble. Could it mean
To last, a love set pendulous between
Sorrow and sorrow? Nay, I rather thrilled,
Distrusting every light that seemed to gild
The onward path, and feared to overlean
A finger even. And, though I have grown serene
And strong since then, I think that God has willed
A still renewable fear ... O love, O troth ...
Lest these enclasped hands should never hold,
This mutual kiss drop down between us both
As an unowned thing, once the lips being cold.
And Love, be false! if he, to keep one oath,
Must lose one joy, by his life's star foretold.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

35 sec read
134

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDCDCD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 620
Words 118
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era. more…

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