Analysis of Sonnet 12 - Indeed this very love which is my boast

Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806 (Kelloe) – 1861 (Florence)



Indeed this very love which is my boast,
And which, when rising up from breast to brow,
Doth crown me with a ruby large enow
To draw men's eyes and prove the inner cost,—
This love even, all my worth, to the uttermost,
I should not love withal, unless that thou
Hadst set me an example, shown me how,
When first thine earnest eyes with mine were crossed,
And love called love. And thus, I cannot speak
Of love even, as a good thing of my own:
Thy soul hath snatched up mine all faint and weak,
And placed it by thee on a golden throne,—
And that I love (O soul, we must be meek!)
Is by thee only, whom I love alone.


Scheme ABCDABBEFCFCFC
Poetic Form
Metre 0111011111 0111011111 111101011 1111010101 1110111101 111110111 1111010111 1111011101 0111011101 11101011111 1111111101 0111110101 0111111111 1111011101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 617
Words 130
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14
Lines Amount 14
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 466
Words per stanza (avg) 124
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

39 sec read
128

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era. more…

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