Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poetry remained sparse until it was discovered by the women's movement. 

A Victorian-era poet, she advocated for the abolition of slavery, and her efforts contributed to reforming child labour laws. 

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways” is her most well-known poem, originally published in her collection Sonnets from the Portuguese. 

While the poem is usually seen as a love sonnet directed to her husband, Robert Browning, neither the speaker nor the addressee is named. 

The poem suggests that genuine love is everlasting, transcending space, time, and death. 

In “How Do I Love Thee?”, true love is portrayed as long-lasting and even eternal. 

Over the course of the poem, the speaker lists seven ways she loves her partner. 

Read the poem -

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 every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love 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.