Sonnet 29-'I think of thee'

poet

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

context

• petrarchan sonnet

• (autobiographical) one of a collection of 44 poems which Barrett Browning wrote to her courtship to robert Browning

• the sonnets contain Barrett Browning’s hidden feeling for Browning

• they follow the development of their relationship

‘I think of thee!- my thoughts do twine and bud’

• first person + present tense → current as she hasn’t stopped thinking about him

• exclamation → idea of urgency and passion

• imagery ‘bud’ → new growth

‘as wild vines about a tree’

• adjective ‘wild’ → uncontrollable, doesn’t stop growing like her thoughts

• noun ‘vines’ → grow in abundance, cling onto a tree

• extended metaphor ‘tree’ → he’s the support, strength and is grounded

• natural imagery → shows how her feelings are organic/natural

‘to see / except the straggling green’

• enjambment → passion is out of control & never ending

• adjective ‘straggling’ → irregular and untidy

• shows how organic and real her feelings are

‘Yet, O my palm-tree’

• time marker & slight volta / shift → her developed desire to be with him

• possessive determiner ‘my’

• noun ‘palm-tree’ → protection from sun/can withstand a lot

• metaphor → she feels like he protects her

• exclamatory

‘Who art dearer, better !’

• comparatives → her thoughts alone are not enough

• double caesura → passion & desire for longing to end

‘Rather, instantly renew thy presence’

• another shift/volta (breaks from petrarchan sonnet)

• adverb → urgency

• imperative → urgency developed

• verb ‘renew’ → fresh and invigorating → what she feels he will provide

‘set thy trunk all bare’

• phallic imagery → her desire to be intimate with him

• (extended metaphor of the tree)

‘burst, shattered, everywhere!’

• dramatic/plosive verbs → her thoughts will not simply disappear; they are powerful

• phallic imagery

• end stop/exclamation → emphasises her powerful thoughts

‘deep joy to see and hear thee’

• ‘deep joy’ → depth of her feelings

• dynamic/sensory verbs → contrasts her thinking earlier

• now they have a deeper connection as they’re together

‘I do not think of thee -I am too near thee’

• she doesn’t need to sit with her her thoughts because he is now here

• adverb ‘too’ → his presence overwhelms her thoughts

structure

• petrarchan sonnet → 14 lines, 2 quatrains and a sestet, usually volta(shift) is abt 8/9th line

• quatrain rhyme scheme → ABBA ABBA + slant rhyme with ‘bud’ and ‘wood’ shows her uncertainty

• sestet rhyme scheme → CBCBCB → rhyming is much clearer and settled as she is now with him

themes

• longing and desire

• imagination vs reality

• vulnerability

• emotional honesty

• growth and organic love

• nature