Sonnet XXIII: Is It Indeed So?

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



Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead,
Wouldst thou miss any life in losing mine?
And would the sun for thee more coldly shine
Because of grave-damps falling round my head?
I marvelled, my Belovèd, when I read
Thy thought so in the letter. I am thine--
But...so much to thee? Can I pour your wine
While my hands tremble? Then my soul, instead
Of dreams of death, resumes life's lower range.
Then, love me, Love! Look on me--breathe on me!
As brighter ladies do not count it strange,
For love, to give up acres and degree,
I yield the grave for thy sake, and exchange
My near sweet view of Heaven, for earth with thee!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 04, 2023

36 sec read
113

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBAABBACDCDCD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 624
Words 121
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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

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    "Sonnet XXIII: Is It Indeed So?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/10348/sonnet-xxiii:-is-it-indeed-so?>.

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