Victorian Love and Poetry: The Story of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

You have likely heard this line, especially around Valentine’s Day, but do you know its origins? Behind it is a woman, writing from a narrow room in her father’s house, uncertain of her health and future, and whether the love she had found could become a shared life. The line comes from Sonnets from the Portuguese, written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning during her courtship with fellow poet Robert Browning.

Engraving from original Painting by Chappel, 1872

Early Life and Writing

Elizabeth Barrett was born on March 6, 1806, at Coxhoe Hall near Durham, the eldest of twelve children in a prosperous family whose wealth came from Jamaican plantations. From an early age, she was a voracious reader and gifted writer, reportedly composing an epic poem in four books by age twelve and teaching herself classical languages.

Her talent was often overshadowed by fragile health. As a teenager, Elizabeth developed a chronic lung condition and later suffered a spinal injury that left her physically weak for much of her life. In 1826, she anonymously published her first collection, An Essay on Mind and Other Poems. While it did not bring wide recognition, it marked the beginning of a lifelong commitment to poetry.

Through the 1830s and early 1840s, she published translations, classical adaptations, and verse that drew both praise and attention. Her voice was becoming increasingly recognized among contemporary writers.

Coxhoe Hall, the birthplace of Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Meeting Robert Browning

Elizabeth’s life took a defining turn in January 1845. That winter, Robert Browning, a younger poet whose work she admired, wrote to her after reading her 1844 volume of poems. His letter began with admiration for her verses and ended with a declaration of affection. It was the first in a correspondence that would shape both their lives.

Over the next eighteen months, they exchanged hundreds of letters. Their courtship unfolded largely in writing and in secrecy, in part because Elizabeth’s father was deeply resistant to marriage. She was also aware of her own physical limitations and uncertain that she could offer Robert a normal life. Robert’s persistence and genuine affection helped her overcome her doubts.

Robert Browning visits Elizabeth Barrett at 50 Wimpole Street, Herbert Gustave Carmichael Schmalz (1856-1935)

Sonnets from the Portuguese

During this period, Elizabeth began writing the sonnets that would later become Sonnets from the Portuguese, now among the most recognized works of love poetry in English. These poems trace her feelings from doubt and resistance to acceptance and love. Elizabeth did not initially intend them for publication, and when they were released in 1850, they were presented as translations to preserve a sense of distance.

The sequence of forty-four sonnets follows the course of her relationship with Robert Browning, from early uncertainty to mutual devotion. Sonnet 43 begins with the familiar line, “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

Sonnet 30 from Sonnets From the Portuguese

Marriage and Life Abroad

In September 1846, Elizabeth and Robert Browning defied her father’s objections by marrying secretly at St. Marylebone Parish Church in London. A week later, they left for Italy, where they made their home for the rest of Elizabeth’s life. Her father, furious at the elopement, never spoke to her again.

Italy offered Elizabeth both physical relief and creative renewal. The warmer climate improved her health, and the distance from England allowed her greater independence. The Brownings settled primarily in Florence, where Elizabeth continued to write and publish. During these years, her reputation was well established in literary circles across Europe. In 1849, they welcomed their only child, a son.

Florence, from the south-east (1863) by John Wharlton Bunney

Later Years and Legacy

Elizabeth Barrett Browning died in Florence on June 29, 1861, at the age of fifty-five. She was buried in the English Cemetery there, far from the country that shaped her early life. Her marriage to Robert Browning is remembered as one of the great literary love stories of the nineteenth century, and her writing, including the sonnets inspired by their life together, captures the personal experience of love in a way that still resonates today.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning by Michele Gordigiani 1858

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