Elizabeth Barrett Browning Analysis

The Power of Happiness As Christopher Morley once said ,“there is only one success - to spend your life in your own way”. Similarly, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and William Wordsworth both have successfully happy lives, although they are consoled in different ways. In both “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Browning and “I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud” by William Wordsworth, there is a common theme of happiness depicted through the use of diction, however, Browning presents reasons as to why she achieves happiness from a physical human companion, whereas in Wordsworth’s, he discusses how his happiness comes from the inanimate prospects of nature, both using similes and personification to relay this to the reader. In “How Do I Love Thee”,
Browning lists the multitude of ways she loves her husband. A theme of happiness pervades through the entirety of the poem as she describes this love she has with her husband. Browning states “my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight, for the ends of Being and ideal Grace” (3-4). Through the personification of her soul, Browning reveals her dependence on her husband for her happiness, not that this is necessarily a bad thing. She simply cannot fathom living without him, therefore making him the source of her happiness. Along with the use of personification, Browning depicts her love for her husband through multiple similes. She “love[s] thee freely, as men strive for Right” (Browning 7), indicating her natural and free love for her husband. While other people and things in life take work and persistence, loving him comes easily and naturally to her. Similarly, she “love[s] thee with the breath, Smiles, tears of all [her] life” (Browning 12-13), continuing to show her everpresent and constant love for him with the use of enjambment. One could grasp the love and devotion she has for her husband in this one line where she essentially says he is everything to her. Browning also states “…and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death”, relaying also the theme of happiness in accordance with her constant dependence on her husband (14). Along with expressing her undying love for her husband, Browning shows that this love brings her pure happiness. Using words such as “sun”, “smiles”, and “childhood”, Browning’s diction helps to relay the theme of happiness to the reader. Because Browning uses these words to portray a joyful tone, the reader can infer the happiness that her husband Robert brings to her. Wordsworth’s poem, while still having a theme of happiness, shows how Wordsworth relies solely on the beauty of nature to bring him happiness, as opposed to a person.
Though Browning needs a human companion, as many people do, to make her happy, Wordsworth finds conclusive happiness in the inanimate things of nature. Thinking back to a time of complete content, Wordsworth describes daffodils "tossing their heads in sprightly dance” (12). In this particular line of the poem, Wordsworth uses personification to describe the daffodils in an upbeat demeanor. He knows that the daffodils and things of nature will stay with him constantly through his life. Therefore, through the simile “continuous as the stars that shine” (7), Wordsworth shows why he depends on nature for his happiness through a careful selection of figurative language. As he describes the beauty and grace of the daffodils, Wordsworth “could not but be gay In such a jocund company”, using enjambment to show that the daffodils bring him a happiness he cannot help nor deny (15-16). Although Browning needs the aid and presence of a human being, Wordsworth relishes in “the bliss of solitude” (22), using only the things of nature to brighten his mood and devote his life. In addition, when in “vacant or pensive mood”(20) he thinks about the daffodils and is immediately consoled just by the memory of their beauty, thus reiterating his infatuation with
nature. In addition to using figurative language, Wordsworth uses diction to also encompass the intended theme of happiness. The words “fluttering”, “glee”, and “pleasure” give off a tone of joy, therefore continuing the theme of happiness throughout the poem. One could infer from his usage of these words that the daffodils and nature bring him the happiness he references throughout the poem.
Just like Wordsworth and Browning, we all have different things in life that make us happy, whether it be dancing, drawing, swimming, or baking. We all have that one thing to depend on when all else in the world seems wrong or against us. Wordsworth and Browning depict this in their poems, therefore continually relating to the common man and the literary era of romanticism. These poems they have shared with the world help readers to do what they are passionate about and happiness will come.