A Sea-Side Walk

We walked beside the sea,
After a day which perished silently
Of its own glory---like the Princess weird
Who, combating the Genius, scorched and seared,
Uttered with burning breath, 'Ho! victory!'
And sank adown, an heap of ashes pale;
So runs the Arab tale.

The sky above us showed
An universal and unmoving cloud,
On which, the cliffs permitted us to see
Only the outline of their majesty,
As master-minds, when gazed at by the crowd!
And, shining with a gloom, the water grey
Swang in its moon-taught way.

Nor moon nor stars were out.
They did not dare to tread so soon about,
Though trembling, in the footsteps of the sun.
The light was neither night's nor day's, but one
Which, life-like, had a beauty in its doubt;
And Silence's impassioned breathings round
Seemed wandering into sound.

O solemn-beating heart
Of nature! I have knowledge that thou art
Bound unto man's by cords he cannot sever---
And, what time they are slackened by him ever,
So to attest his own supernal part,
Still runneth thy vibration fast and strong,
The slackened cord along.

For though we never spoke
Of the grey water anal the shaded rock,---
Dark wave and stone, unconsciously, were fused
Into the plaintive speaking that we used,
Of absent friends and memories unforsook;
And, had we seen each other's face, we had
Seen haply, each was sad. 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really liked this poem because of its vivid imagery. The figurative language that Elizabeth Barrett Browning uses in this poem is simply as if I am standing on the beach feeling the waves on my face and looking up to the stars. I did not completely understand the entirety of the poem, some of her wording / word choice is confusing, especially when the poem is so long. Overall, I really liked the simplistic topic Elizabeth came up with but used such detailed and delicate imagery to make a simple topic more beautiful. 
*figurative language: A form of language use in which writers and speakers convey something other than the literal meaning of their words. Examples include hyperbole or exaggeration, litotes or understatement, simile and metaphor, which employ comparison, and synecdoche and metonymy, in which a part of a thing stands for the whole. For example in this poem: "And, shining with a gloom, the water grey / Swang in its moon-taught way" and "Of the grey water anal the shaded rock,---Dark wave and stone, unconsciously, were fused".
*assonance: The repetition of similar vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry or prose, as in "I rose and told him of my woe." Whitman's "When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer" contains assonantal "I's" in the following lines: "How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, / Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself."

*connotation: The associations called up by a word that goes beyond its dictionary meaning. Poets, especially, tend to use words rich in connotation. Dylan Thomas's "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" includes intensely connotative language, as in these lines: "Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright / Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, / Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

The Best Thing in the World

What's the best thing in the world?

June-rose, by May-dew impearled;
Sweet south-wind, that means no rain;
Truth, not cruel to a friend;
Pleasure, not in haste to end;
Beauty, not self-decked and curled
Till its pride is over-plain;
Love, when, so, you're loved again.
What's the best thing in the world?
--Something out of it, I think.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In this poem, much like the previous, Elizabeth Barrett Browning uses nature to prove her point. I believe that Elizabeth is asking a rhetorical question: what is the best thing in the world? and her answer to that question is pure love reciprocated; knowing that the person you love loves you back with the same passion. I really like this poem because it is different from her other poems, in the lightness and "on the cloud" feeling. If someone is able to have the feeling of pure love by another then they are able to also notice and love the rose and dew in nature. 
*hyperbole: A figure of speech involving exaggeration. John Donne uses hyperbole in his poem: "Song: Go and Catch a Falling Star."
*personification: The endowment of inanimate objects or abstract concepts with animate or living qualities. An example: "The yellow leaves flaunted their color gaily in the breeze." Wordsworth's "I wandered lonely as a cloud" includes personification. For example in this poem: "June-rose, by May-dew impearled" and "Pleasure, not in haste to end;
Beauty, not self-decked and curled"
*alliteration: The repetition of consonant sounds, especially at the beginning of words. Example: "Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood." Hopkins, "In the Valley of the Elwy." For example in this poem: "Sweet south-wind, that means no rain"

Change Upon Change

Five months ago the stream did
flow,

The lilies bloomed within the sedge,

And we were lingering to and fro,

Where none will track thee in this snow,

Along the stream, beside the hedge.

Ah, Sweet, be free to love and go!

For if I do not hear thy foot,

The frozen river is as mute,

The flowers have dried down to the root:

And why, since these be changed since May,

Shouldst thou change less than they.

And slow, slow as the winter snow

The tears have drifted to mine eyes;

And my poor cheeks, five months ago

Set blushing at thy praises so,

Put paleness on for a disguise.

Ah, Sweet, be free to praise and go!

For if my face is turned too pale,

It was thine oath that first did fail, --

It was thy love proved false and frail, --

And why, since these be changed enow,

Should I change less than thou.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In this poem I think Elizabeth Barrett Browning did a wonderful job connecting the different stages of her relationship with the changing conditions of the season. First, the poem starts out in summer where the "lilies bloomed" and the "stream did flow". At this point, her relationship is wonderful and joyful, just like the season. This can be seen in her line, "Where none will track thee in the snow". Later in the poem, the tone changes, "For if I do not hear thy foot, / The frozen river is as mute". The season turns to winter and their relationship turns rocky. It seems to me that she begins to mourn over the change in her relationship. 

*symbol: An object or action in a literary work that means more than itself, that stands for something beyond itself. The glass unicorn in The Glass Menagerie, the rocking horse in "The Rocking-Horse Winner," the road in Frost's "The Road Not Taken"--all are symbols in this sense. For example in this poem: winter is a symbol of the downfall in their relationship; “The frozen river is as mute, The flowers have dried down to the root”

*tone: The implied attitude of a writer toward the subject and characters of a work, as, for example, Flannery O'Connor's ironic tone in her "Good Country People." See Irony.

*climax: The turning point of the action in the plot of a play or story. The climax represents the point of greatest tension in the work. The climax of John Updike's "A&P," for example, occurs when Sammy quits his job as a cashier. In this poem, I found the seasons changing from summer to winter brought the climax of the poem; this is the change in seasons and the relationship between the man and woman.

Grief

I tell you, hopeless grief is passionless;

That only men incredulous of despair,
Half-taught in anguish, through the midnight air
Beat upward to God's throne in loud access
Of shrieking and reproach. Full desertness,
In souls as countries, lieth silent-bare
Under the blanching, vertical eye-glare
Of the absolute Heavens. Deep-hearted man, express
Grief for thy Dead in silence like to death--
Most like a monumental statue set
In everlasting watch and moveless woe
Till itself crumble to the dust beneath.
Touch it; the marble eyelids are not wet:
If it could weep, it could arise and go.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I found this poem to be completely opposite in meaning from the poem "How do I Love Thee?". In "Grief" I felt sad, mad, and true grief. I feel as though this poem is about losing a loved one, not the reader losing a loved one, but the reader looking at a person who has just received the news that their loved one is dead. It seemed like the mood of the poem is very melancholy. I did like this poem a lot because it captured the true essence of loss and how it affects an individual. Elizabeth can no doubt relate to these feelings and emotions due to the death of her brother and mother. Also, when she moved to Florence with her husband Robert, Elizabeth witnessed many injustices. 

*metaphor: A comparison between essentially unlike things without an explicitly comparative word such as like or as. An example is "My love is a red, red rose," For example from the poem: “Touch it; the marble eyelids are not wet.”

*simile: A figure of speech involving a comparison between unlike things using like, as, or as though. An example: "My love is like a red, red rose." For example from the poem: "Full desertness, In souls as countries..." and “Most like a monumental statue set”   

*petrarchan sonnet: divides into two parts: an eight-line octave and a six-line sestet, rhyming abba abba cde cde or abba abba cd cd cd.

How Do I Love Thee? (Sonnet XVIII)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. 

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I choose this as one of my poems because I really, really liked it. After reading the biography of Elizabeth, she seemed to be a woman who did not show her feelings to many people; almost cold and insincere on the outside but warm and loving on the inside. I feel as though this poem does a superb job showing Elizabeth's inner strength and beauty. It is a happy poem, discussing love and how much love exceeds any tangible object. And, even though the poem ends with a line about death, it is a hopeful line saying that even after death their love will survive, but not only will it survive, it will grow in strength. 
*Iambic Pentameter: 
*lyric: A type of poem characterized by brevity, compression, and the expression of feeling.
*sonnet: A fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter. The Shakespearean or English sonnet is arranged as three quatrains and a final couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. The Petrarchan or Italian sonnet divides into two parts: an eight-line octave and a six-line sestet, rhyming abba abba cde cde or abba abba cd cd cd.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning Biography

My impressions of Elizabeth Barrett Browning: After reading the biography on Elizabeth Barrett Browning, I had the sense that she was a woman greatly affected by the tragedies and wonders in her life. For example her mother's death, her father's fearful characteristics and her marriage to her adoring husband. Her deep emotions, portrayed through her poetry, came from the core of her being. It seems as though she focuses on important issues, in particular the female role in society. Lastly, I am most impressed with how "intune" Elizabeth seemed to be with herself and how she was feeling at every precise moment in her life.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6, 1806 in Durham, England and died June 29, 1861 in Florence Italy. Elizabeth is best known for her love poems, particularly Sonnets from the Portuguese and Aurora Leigh. Some poets nowadays consider Elizabeth to have a feminist persuasion in her poetry.

Elizabeth was the oldest of her siblings and had an extraordinarily joyful childhood. However, at the tender age of 15 she became dangerously ill due to a previous injury in her spine. Due to her sickness, Elizabeth’s heath was damaged permanently.

Her family moved to London in 1838 and lived at 50 Wimpole Street. In London she was published in periodicals and came out with her first collection called The Seraphim and Other Poems in 1838.

Later, Elizabeth’s mother, Edward Barrett Moulton, drowned herself to death causing Elizabeth to be intimidated to interact with anyone outside of her small group of friends. Although Elizabeth was hesitant to talk to the outside world, her name was well recognized throughout the literary community.

In January 1845 Elizabeth received a note from the poet Robert Browning: “I love your versus with all my heart, dear Miss Barrett. I do, as I say, love these books with all my heart—and I love you too”. The two married on September 12, 1846. Elizabeth’s father, however, knew nothing of the courtship or wedding. Elizabeth stayed and lived at home for a week after the marriage was final due to fear of her father. She published Sonnets from the Portuguese in 1850, poems on her reluctance to marry. They settled in Florence where Elizabeth gave birth to her only child, Robert Wiedemann Barrett, in 1849.

Elizabeth continued to write about spiritualism and the occult, sympathy for the Florentines, pride in Napoleon III, and antislavery. In 1861 Elizabeth grew ill and died.

Some helpful links:
http://www.biography.com/people/elizabeth-barrett-browning-9228932
http://poetry.org/browning.htm
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/ebb/index.html
http://www.cswnet.com/~erin/ebbpoem.htm