Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote 44 sonnets, published in 1850 as *Sonnets from the Portuguese*. The forty-third poem starts with the line "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." Browning never gave it any other title; she simply numbered it. Readers, anthologists, greeting-card writers, and search engines took that memorable line and turned it into a title, as is often the case when a line is too striking to remain unnamed.
So, when someone searches for "How Do I Love Thee," and another looks for "Sonnet 43," they are after the same fourteen lines, the same speaker, and the same closing promise that love will outlast death. The poem hasn’t changed; only the label on the door has shifted, based on who put it there.
This page exists because both titles are valid and widely recognized, and a student who discovers the poem one way should know it’s the same poem they would find through the other. The key takeaway about "How Do I Love Thee" and "Sonnet 43" is that the discussion revolves around naming conventions, not two separate works.
The Reader's Atlas · Compare · The Sonnet Tradition
How Do I Love TheeSonnet 43
There is only one poem here. That is the whole point.
Poets
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Years
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Chapter
The Sonnet Tradition
§01 The thesis
How Do I Love Thee & Sonnet 43
A reader's case for putting these two side by side — what each carries, and what they argue when they sit on the same page.
§02 The dialectic axes
The two poems on four axes
Each axis isolates one specific vector — speaker, form, image, closing move — and reads the two poems against each other on that single dimension.
Axis
Poem A
How Do I Love Thee
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Poem B
Sonnet 43
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
01Title origin
Poem A · How Do I Love Thee
"How Do I Love Thee" is a title created by readers, taken from the poem's well-known opening line. Browning himself never used this title. It gained popularity as the main label through various anthologies and cultural references, completely separate from the context of the poem.
Poem B · Sonnet 43
"Sonnet 43" is the number that Browning assigned to it in *Sonnets from the Portuguese* (1850). This title reflects her choice and places the poem as the second-to-last in a series of 44 sonnets detailing a genuine courtship.
02Context carried
Poem A · How Do I Love Thee
The poem, presented under a well-known title, comes without context. The reader encounters the speaker in the middle of a declaration, lacking any understanding of the doubts, illness, or emotional background laid out in the earlier sonnets.
Poem B · Sonnet 43
Under the sequence number, the poem holds the burden of 42 earlier poems. The speaker's confidence in Sonnet 43 feels earned — it's a conclusion rather than just an opening move.
03Typical setting
Poem A · How Do I Love Thee
"How Do I Love Thee" is the version you’ll find on greeting cards, in wedding readings, in movie dialogues, and in collections for general audiences. It stands alone as a complete lyric.
Poem B · Sonnet 43
"Sonnet 43" is the version found in academic editions, university syllabi, and discussions about Victorian poetry. It plays a role in a broader argument that encompasses the entire collection.
04What the label implies
Poem A · How Do I Love Thee
The title suggests that the poem focuses on love's various forms. The question in the first line seems rhetorical, serving as a way to introduce the list.
Poem B · Sonnet 43
The sequence title suggests that the poem focuses on position — specifically, how this statement fits into a broader emotional journey. The question in the first line feels authentic, representing the peak of a speaker who has invested 42 sonnets to reach this point.
§03 Synthesis & departure
The shared ground and the divergence
Shared
Every element of both "entries" is the same because the text is the same. The poem is a Petrarchan sonnet—fourteen lines of iambic pentameter, split into an octave that develops the argument and a sestet that wraps it up. The speaker transitions from the cosmic ("the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach") to the everyday ("the level of everyday's / Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight") and then expands outward again to themes of faith, grief, childhood, and ultimately death. The volta, or emotional shift, appears subtly in the final couplet with the phrase "if God choose"—a slight qualification within an otherwise definitive statement. Browning penned the sequence in secret while courting Robert Browning, and the title *Sonnets from the Portuguese* served as a cover: she wasn’t translating; she was opening up. Both titles point to that same moment of vulnerability.
Where they diverge
The main difference between "How Do I Love Thee" and "Sonnet 43" lies in the context each title provides for the poem.
"Sonnet 43" positions the poem within a numbered series. This context is significant. Reading it as the 43rd of 44 adds a layer of meaning — you come in with the weight of 42 preceding poems, a developing relationship, and a speaker who has already navigated doubt, illness, and the fear of loving too late. The last sonnet in the series (44) serves as a farewell to the entire collection, making 43 feel like a climax instead of just another expression of love.
On the other hand, "How Do I Love Thee" removes all that context. It presents the poem as a standalone piece, which is how most people first encounter it — perhaps on a Valentine's card, in an anthology, or in a film. While that interpretation isn’t wrong, it misses some depth. The opening question carries more weight when you know it’s the answer to 42 earlier questions that the speaker has been grappling with.
§04 A reader's order of operations
Which to read first
If you found this poem through the title "How Do I Love Thee" — perhaps from a wedding, a card, or a casual mention — take a moment to read it again as Sonnet 43 from *Sonnets from the Portuguese*. If you have an hour, start with Sonnet 1, or at least check out Sonnets 1, 14, and 22 before diving into 43. The final couplet, "I shall but love thee better after death," carries a different weight when you realize the speaker spent the earlier sonnets grappling with feelings of being too broken and too old to deserve the love she now embraces.
§05 Reader's questions
On How Do I Love Thee vs Sonnet 43, frequently asked
Answer
Yes, absolutely. Both titles refer to the same fourteen lines written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. "Sonnet 43" is the original title from *Sonnets from the Portuguese* (1850), while "How Do I Love Thee" is a title created by readers, based on the poem's opening line.
Answer
Browning numbered her sonnets and published them under the sequence title *Sonnets from the Portuguese*. She didn't give individual sonnets titles based on their opening lines. The title "How Do I Love Thee" is a later convention, not one she chose herself.
Answer
The opening line — "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways" — is definitely the most quoted. The closing line, "I shall but love thee better after death," comes in a close second and is often featured in wedding readings and memorial services.
Answer
It was a calculated fiction. Browning's husband Robert affectionately called her "my little Portuguese," and framing her poems this way allowed her to share intensely personal love poems without exposing them as straightforward autobiography. Victorian readers embraced this courteous facade.
Answer
Not exactly together—they're essentially the same poem. Teachers choose one title or the other based on whether the course uses a general poetry anthology (which usually features the popular title) or an academic edition of *Sonnets from the Portuguese* (which refers to the poem by its number). This poem is a staple in both secondary and undergraduate curricula.
Answer
Browning wrote the sonnets while she was courting Robert Browning, around 1845 to 1846. She kept them to herself for several years before finally sharing them with Robert, who urged her to publish them. They were published in *Sonnets from the Portuguese* in 1850.
Answer
The words remain the same, but the context shifts. "How Do I Love Thee" frames the poem as a standalone lyric declaration. In contrast, "Sonnet 43" places it at the end of a series of 44 poems, giving the speaker's confidence a sense of being earned rather than simply taken for granted. It's the same poem, but with a different level of context.
§06 More from this chapter
Fourteen lines, six dialectics
5 comparisons in this chapter
William ShakespearevsWilliam Shakespeare
Sonnet 18againstSonnet 130
William ShakespearevsWilliam Shakespeare
Sonnet 18againstSonnet 116
William ShakespearevsWilliam Shakespeare
Sonnet 29againstSonnet 1
William ShakespearevsElizabeth Barrett Browning
Sonnet 130againstHow Do I Love Thee
Robert BurnsvsWilliam Shakespeare