Say Over Again
Elizabeth Barrett Browning masterfully employs the Petrarchan form in her archetype sonnet sequence, her tribute to her belovèd husband.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Browning Library
Introduction and Text of Sonnet 21: "Say over again, and yet in one case over once more"
Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet 21, from her classic sonnet sequence, Sonnets from the Portuguese, features a speaker who appears to be reporting in a light-headed manner, somewhat out of graphic symbol for her. The speaker is requesting that her lover continue his repetition of the words she had long craved to hear. She is in the process of irresolute her attitude from timid to self-assured. The speaker is becoming habituated to listening to her belovèd tell her, "I beloved you." Thus, she is instructing him to tell her repeatedly those beautiful words.
Sonnet 21: "Say over once again, and yet in one case over over again"
Say over once more, and yet in one case over again,
That thou dost dear me. Though the word repeated
Should seem "a cuckoo-vocal," as 1000 dost care for it,
Recollect, never to the loma or plainly,
Valley and wood, without her cuckoo-strain
Comes the fresh Spring in all her dark-green completed.
Belovèd, I, amid the darkness greeted
By a doubtful spirit-voice, in that doubt's pain
Cry, "Speak once more than—thou lovest!" Who can fear
Also many stars, though each in sky shall ringlet,
Too many flowers, though each shall crown the twelvemonth?
Say grand dost love me, love me, love me—toll
The silver iterance!—only minding, Love,
To beloved me also in silence with thy soul.
Reading of Sonnet 21: "Say over again, and all the same once over over again"
The speaker is condign habituated to listening to her beloved tell her, "I love yous." Thus she is instructing him to tell her repeatedly those beautiful words.
Offset Quatrain: Giddy with Love
Say again, and yet once over once again,
That m dost love me. Though the word repeated
Should seem "a cuckoo-song," as k dost treat information technology,
Remember, never to the colina or apparently,
The speaker gently commands her honey friend to repeat to her "over again, and yet once once again / That thou dost love me." Fifty-fifty though the speaker confesses that the repetition of that aforementioned sentiment over and over might exist perceived as somewhat airheaded and as repetitious every bit the cuckoo bird's proclamations, she justifies her demand past averring that nature is filled with glorious repetition.
The speaker reminds her beloved and besides herself that the flavor of spring never arrives until the hills and meadows are spread out with the aforementioned green that the valleys and woods as well brandish and with the aforementioned nutty cuckoo's repeated plaints.
Second Quatrain: Homo Nature's Over-Sensitivity
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Valley and wood, without her cuckoo-strain
Comes the fresh Spring in all her dark-green completed.
Belovèd, I, amid the darkness greeted
Past a doubtful spirit-voice, in that doubt's pain
The speaker compares the world of humanity to the realm of nature to back up and even brand right human nature'due south at times over-sensitivity, especially the speaker's own penchant for that quality. The speaker has simply become more and more delighted in listening to her lover echo his dearest for her. She has at last become capable of believing his words.
The speaker therefore continues in the new-institute state of her frivolity in demanding that he go along to echo his annunciation of dear for her. So the speaker lets him know that sometime during nighttime, her erstwhile evil spirits had once again acquired her to uncertainty. Thus, "in that doubt's hurting," she became constrained to demand of him that he repeat those cute words of beloved again for her to hear. Therefore, with this episode in mind, the speaker vehemently demands: "Speak in one case more—thou lovest!"
Outset Tercet: Too Many Stars or Flowers
Cry, "Speak once again—1000 lovest!" Who can fear
Too many stars, though each in heaven shall scroll,
Too many flowers, though each shall crown the twelvemonth?
After her confession, the speaker poses an enquiry that further makes her feel more comfortable in making her demand to hear those words from the lips of her beloved. She insists that people would not probable exist against "too many stars" or even "too many flowers."
Information technology is thus that the speaker feels at that place is no trouble with her request him to repeat his declamation. She, in fact, wants to hear it repeatedly. Equally stars and flowers repeat their present in the creation, her little demand volition leave petty intrusion.
Second Tercet: A Bold Request
Say one thousand dost love me, love me, honey me—toll
The silver iterance!—merely minding, Dear,
To love me likewise in silence with thy soul.
The second tercet finds the speaker dramatizing the repetition every bit she repeats it herself: "Say thou dost beloved me, love me, love me." The speaker describes the repetition as a "silverish iterance," which asserts its quality as that of a bong. The speaker has come up to strongly desire to hear the "toll" of her lover's "silver iterance!"
The speaker so offers a startling yet supremely appropriate command. As much equally she loves hearing aloud the words of honey, she craves fifty-fifty more that her beloved, "love me likewise in silence with thy soul." Without her lover also loving her quietly in his soul, that love would be similar a husk of corn with the grain. Hearing the word is wonderful, merely intuiting the love in the soul is sublime.
The Brownings
Barbara Neri
This content is accurate and true to the best of the writer's knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized communication from a qualified professional person.
© 2022 Linda Sue Grimes
Source: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Elizabeth-Barrett-Brownings-Sonnet-21
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