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Prompt 01

"Sonnet 43: How Do I Love Thee?" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

AP LiteratureAQAIB Language & LiteratureGCSE

In Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43 ("How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways"), the speaker seeks to measure a feeling that truly defies quantification. Write a well-organized essay arguing how Browning employs poetic structure, figurative language, and spiritual imagery to illustrate that genuine love goes beyond the physical realm and possesses a divine or eternal essence.

Pre-Writing Considerations

  • How does the Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet form — with its volta — influence the speaker's perspective on love?
  • What impact does the repeated phrase "I love thee" have? How does it strengthen the speaker's argument?
  • In what ways do references to God, grace, and the afterlife elevate love to something beyond a mere human experience?
  • Is there any tension between the urge to measure love and the reality of love’s ultimate immeasurability?

Requirements

  • Craft a clear, arguable thesis in your introduction.
  • Back up your argument with at least three pieces of textual evidence, thoroughly analyzed.
  • Discuss the poem's form and structure alongside its content.
  • Conclude by considering the broader implications of Browning's depiction of love.

Prompt 02

"Sonnet 43: How Do I Love Thee?" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

AP LiteratureAQAIB Language & LiteratureCommon Core Ela

In Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnet 43 ("How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways"), the speaker seeks to express and measure the intensity of her love through various extended metaphors and spiritual references. Write a well-developed argumentative essay in which you argue that Browning employs the Petrarchan sonnet's structure — including its volta, rhyme scheme, and meter — as a strategic rhetorical tool to illustrate that genuine love goes beyond logical quantification and earthly experience.

In your essay, be sure to

  • Identify and analyze at least two specific literary or structural devices (e.g., anaphora, enjambment, the volta, imagery)
  • Explain how each device contributes to the poem's central argument regarding the essence of love
  • Discuss how the shift in tone or focus around the volta strengthens or complicates the speaker's assertion
  • Support your argument with direct textual evidence (quoted lines from the poem)

Suggested length

4–6 paragraphs (approximately 600–900 words) > "I love thee with the breath, / Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, / I shall but love thee better after death." > — Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnet 43

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