'These Make Humanity'

 

“Love, hope, fear, faith - these make humanity. These are its sign and note and character.” – Robert Browning

 

Some writers say love is a major influence on how and what they write, but in Browning’s case it was THE influence in his career.  Languishing as a middle-of-the-road poet at best, he fell in love with Elizabeth Barrett, one of England’s most prominent female writers in the 1840s.  Their love fired his writing and led her to write her famous love sonnets, highlighted by the well-known "How do I love thee?"  Disinherited by her father and rejected by Elizabeth's brothers, the couple moved to Italy where they lived until her death from tuberculosis.  Her work, particularly the love poems, placed her among the all-time leading poets.  For Saturday’s Poem here is Barrett Browning’s, 

 

           How Do I Love Thee?

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 everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee 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.