The Victorian poet Robert Browning first published "Love in a Life" in his 1855 collection Men and Women. The mysterious poem follows its speaker as he searches his house for his beloved. The poem never reveals why this woman has disappeared; all readers know is that she seems to keep exiting a room just as the speaker enters, leaving taunting traces of her presence behind. The poem, which ends with the frantic speaker vowing to continue his search as night falls, speaks to the pain and fear of being separated from a loved one, perhaps through their death. (It's worth noting that Browning's wife and fellow poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, was sick at the time the poem was written.) "Love in a Life" has a companion piece, "Life in a Love," which appears in the same collection.
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The Full Text of “Love in a Life”
I
1Room after room,
2I hunt the house through
3We inhabit together.
4Heart, fear nothing, for, heart, thou shalt find her—
5Next time, herself!—not the trouble behind her
6Left in the curtain, the couch's perfume!
7As she brushed it, the cornice-wreath blossomed anew:
8Yon looking-glass gleamed at the wave of her feather.
II
9Yet the day wears,
10And door succeeds door;
11I try the fresh fortune—
12Range the wide house from the wing to the centre.
13Still the same chance! she goes out as I enter.
14Spend my whole day in the quest,—who cares?
15But 'tis twilight, you see,—with such suites to explore,
16Such closets to search, such alcoves to importune!
The Full Text of “Love in a Life”
I
1Room after room,
2I hunt the house through
3We inhabit together.
4Heart, fear nothing, for, heart, thou shalt find her—
5Next time, herself!—not the trouble behind her
6Left in the curtain, the couch's perfume!
7As she brushed it, the cornice-wreath blossomed anew:
8Yon looking-glass gleamed at the wave of her feather.
II
9Yet the day wears,
10And door succeeds door;
11I try the fresh fortune—
12Range the wide house from the wing to the centre.
13Still the same chance! she goes out as I enter.
14Spend my whole day in the quest,—who cares?
15But 'tis twilight, you see,—with such suites to explore,
16Such closets to search, such alcoves to importune!
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“Love in a Life” Summary
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“Love in a Life” Themes
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Love, Loss, and Separation
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Love in a Life”
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Lines 1-3
Room after room,
I hunt the house through
We inhabit together. -
Lines 4-6
Heart, fear nothing, for, heart, thou shalt find her—
Next time, herself!—not the trouble behind her
Left in the curtain, the couch's perfume! -
Lines 7-8
As she brushed it, the cornice-wreath blossomed anew:
Yon looking-glass gleamed at the wave of her feather. -
Lines 9-12
Yet the day wears,
And door succeeds door;
I try the fresh fortune—
Range the wide house from the wing to the centre. -
Lines 13-14
Still the same chance! she goes out as I enter.
Spend my whole day in the quest,—who cares? -
Lines 15-16
But 'tis twilight, you see,—with such suites to explore,
Such closets to search, such alcoves to importune!
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“Love in a Life” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Caesura
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Consonance
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End-Stopped Line
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Enjambment
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Personification
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Diacope
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Rhetorical Question
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Parallelism
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“Love in a Life” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Thou Shalt
- Cornice-wreath
- Anew
- Yon
- Looking-glass
- Gleamed
- Wears
- Succeeds
- Range
- Wing
- Quest
- 'Tis
- Suites
- Closets
- Alcoves
- Importune
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Love in a Life”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“Love in a Life” Speaker
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“Love in a Life” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “Love in a Life”
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More “Love in a Life” Resources
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External Resources
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The Brownings in Love — A short animation about the relationship between Robert and Elizabeth Browning.
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The Victorian Era and its Poets — Learn more about this period of major social change and its major poets.
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A Portrait of Browning — A photograph of the poet in his later years.
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Browning's Biography — Learn more about the poet's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Browning
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