poetry

1. If thou must love me
Lucia Caviglione and Abril
Teran Frias

2. Poem

3. Form & Structure
The poem If Thou Must Love Me is a sonnet. A sonnet is a fourteen-line
poem with a normal rhyming pattern in iambic pentameter. The rhyme
scheme in this sonnet is abba/abba/cdc/dc. This sonnet If Thou Must Love
Me is a combination of Petrarchan and Shakespearean conventions.

4. Explanation
The poem begins with the speaker declaring she does not want to be loved for any
reason other than for love’s own sake. She doesn't want her lover to love her for her
smile, her voice or her looks, as these things are liable to change over time. The
speaker hopes that her lover will love her simply because he does, as this love will
not be “unwrought” by time. No matter how hard one works for love, if it is based on
physical characteristics, it will not last forever. The personna desires a love that will
last through “eternity.”

5. Analysis
“If thou must love me, let it be for nought
Except for love’s sake only. Do not say,
“I love her for her smile—her look—her way
Of speaking gently,—for a trick of thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
In the beginning of the poem, the
speaker tells her lover that if he
loves her it should not be for any
other reason than the simple fact
that he loves her. The speaker
lists the ways in which she does
not want her lover to justify his
love for her. She does not want to
be loved for “her smile-her look-
her way of speaking gently”, but
just for who she is.

6. A sense of pleasant ease on such a day”—
For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may
Be changed, or change for thee—and love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love me for
Although the similarity of their
thoughts brings “A sense of
pleasant ease” it is still not a
reason to be loved, as thoughts
may change. If they do not find
real reasons to love one another
rather than present day
characteristics, then their love
may be liable to change over
time. The speaker would rather
not be loved, than risk this in the
future.

7. Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry:
A creature might forget to weep, who bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!
But love me for love’s sake, that evermore
Thou mayst love on, through love’s eternity.”
The last lines of this sonnet
conclude the speaker’s ideas
about love and reaffirm her initial
request. Although he has given
her comfort in the past,
something that she appreciates,
she knows it is not enough. She
wishes for her lover to love her
for “love’s sake” only, not
anything else, as this is the only
way to assure that their love will
last through “eternity.”

8. Connection to “Heart and Mind”
After reading and analysing the poem, we realised that we can connect this
sonnet to a poem we read some years ago called “Heart and Mind”. This poem
explored two different, and quite opposite, types of love: the love from the
mind which is the attraction you feel for a person only for their physical
appearance and temporary qualities. This is like a flame, it eventually
consumes. However, the love from the heart is the one which persists, it’s the
one that is true and it's the most important one, as it endures through passing
of time.
We connected this two poems as the author of “If thou must love me” deals
with the same ideas; she wants someone who loves her not because of her
beauty, but for her soul, for the way she is. She wants this love because she
know it’s the true love that will last forever.

9. Repetition, alliteration & personification
Repetition: The word ‘love’ is repeated in the poem at least ten times. It is used
by the poet to highlight the importance of this word in this poem, and
foreshadowing one of the themes. Moreover, it makes reader focus on what the
author is trying to transmit, how love should be, which is the kind of love that lasts
forever and its eternal.
Alliteration: “...comfort LOng and LOse the LOve”
Personification: love is personified “love’s eternity” and “love’s sake” in order to
express its importance to the reader.

10. Themes
Love (temporary love vs. eternal love): This poem exposes the idea that love must
not be based on physical characteristics, as these qualities fade with time. Love
should last forever and such kind of love can only exist when love is simply felt for a
person and not considering looks.
Women Rights: During the Victorian period, women did not have the right to vote or
had any right to own property. They were not given the right to study and were not
treated equally to men. Therefore, Barrett Browning was against these social and
gender differences. In this poem she mocks the idea of courtly love. Her sonnets give
importance to the thinking of women and not to the male-dominated society. In the
sonnet, If Thou Must Love Me, the speaker wants her lover not to love her for
superficial qualities or out of pity but for what she is as a person. Thus this poem
questions the idea of a woman and demands the right of women to speak and to be
heard.

11. Tone
Idealize: The speaker throughout the poem idealizes the perfect way of being
loved.
The speaker wants to transmit that physical characteristics do not matter, what really
endures and survives eternity is love from the soul, which comes from fully accepting
the other person.
Message

12. Important quotations
● “If thou must love me, let it be for nought”
This is the first line of the poem and we consider it is really important as it is presenting us the
main topic of this poem; it is presenting us the author’s first thought. The author is saying that she
doesnt want love unless its true and comes from the heart; not from appearances.
● “Love me for love’s sake”
This quote we can found it at the end of the last stanza. The author in this quote is saying that she
doesn’t want any kind of love that it is not based on “love's sake only” as it is not worth it. She
wants a true love which can last forever.
● “A sense of pleasant ease on such a day”
I consider that this is an important quotation as the author it’s saying that although they might
share thoughts and ideas which is really important as they create a bond and makes them
strengthen their relationship, it’s still not a reason to be loved as her thought might end up
changing.