How do I love thee (Sonnet 43) Summary & Analysis
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” is a sonnet by the 19th-century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. It is her most famous and best-loved poem, having first appeared as sonnet 43 in her collection Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850). Although the poem is traditionally interpreted as a love sonnet from Elizabeth Barrett Browning to her husband, the poet Robert Browning, the speaker and addressee are never identified by name. In this guide, we use female pronouns for the speaker and male pronouns for the beloved, but the poem itself does not specify these genders and is open to other interpretations.

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