The first time that the sun rose on thine oath
To love me, I looked forward to the moon
To slacken all those bonds which seemed too soon
And quickly tied to make a lasting troth.
Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe;
And, looking on myself, I seemed not one
For such man’s love!—more like an out-of-tune
Worn viol, a good singer would be wroth
To spoil his song with, and which, snatched in haste,
Is laid down at the first ill-sounding note.
I did not wrong myself so, but I placed
A wrong on thee. For perfect strains may float
’Neath master-hands, from instruments defaced,—
And great souls, at one stroke, may do and doat.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Notes on "The first time that the sun rose on thine oath"
This is poem number XXXII (32) of Sonnets from the
Portuguese, written by Elizabeth Barrett for Robert Browning in the 1840s, during their courtship. She wonders
that he is able to elicit love from her unworthy and old self. "Doat" is a variant spelling of "dote" - to love fondly.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) is now best remembered for her
"Sonnets from the Portuguese," a cycle of sonnets written during her courtship with Robert Browning.
In fact however, she was an accomplished poet before she met Browning.
Most of her poems were not about romantic love.
They were topical poems about political issues such as child labor, slavery and the Italian national cause.
Elizabeth Barrett was a "hopeless" invalid and recluse, six years older than Robert Browning. They were happily married and had a son.
The fame of the poets, and the fairy-tale story of the girl who was thought to be doomed to be an old maid,
rescued from a loveless existence and brought back to life and
the world by a gallant suitor, kindled the imagination of the public.
Copyright - All original materials at this Web site are copyright by the authors and/or by the principals of yu-hu.com. Do not copy materials without permission. Please refer to copyright notice.
Comments and Submissions - If you would like to comment, or if you would like to send us your poems or poems of others to be included here, we would love hear from you. In submitting your work or work of others you agree to the conditions for submissions.
If you agree, then click below or type the address from the graphic into the address field of your e-mail program:
