Lessons of Love

A couple of things I learned about love from Browning’s sonnets is that loving someone can be one of the most pure and selfless things one could ever do in their life. For example, in “Sonnets from the Portuguese” in Sonnet 43 she states “I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.” Next, I mentioned the word selfless because after reading all of these sonnets, I felt as if she loved her husband unconditionally and expected nothing in return. Also, I interpreted the last few lines of Sonnet 43 to mean that love can survive and endure all hardships when she writes “With my lost saints-I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life.” Basically her love is so intense and strong for her husband that it can undergo anything, and she expects to love him even after death.

Next, I agree with Browning’s idea when she states “Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe;” in Sonnet 32 simply because I have seen this happen quite often in relationships. Some people have the tendency to jump into relationships or “fall in love” before taking the time to truly get to know the other person and this usually results in the couple moving too fast and often breaking up sooner than if they would have took things more slowly. Then that couple usually ends up disliking one another because their feelings or pride may have been hurt. Of course this is not the case for every one that chooses to “quickly love someone” but I think you can see what Browning meant when she claims that “Quick-loving hearts, I thought, may quickly loathe.” Therefore, in that line alone, one could learn that love is not supposed to be rushed and cease but taken slowly and cherished while you have it.