Barret Browning uses language to attempt to define the extreme capacity of her love. This can be seen when she uses words like ‘depth’, ‘breadth’ and ‘height’.
Another way in which Auden expresses his feelings is by stressing certain words to emphasise their importance. For instance,
‘He Is Dead’
Written with each word beginning with a capital, and at the end of a sentence he is able to stress the importance of it. It is also very effective in the way that it is very central in the poem, though it feels as though it should be written at the end as final closing lines.
It is almost as though Auden wants everyone to feel his grief and enormous feeling of loss, but suggests in his writing that people are taking no notice and getting on with their lives, unaffected by the event. He emphasises his feeling that the death should be more publicly felt when he states,
‘Let the traffic policeman wear black cotton gloves’
This also may suggest that he feels his lover is so important, it is as if he wants to provide him with a royal funeral.
These feelings however, are not reflected by Barret Browning, who seems to want her feelings and emotions to be confined and kept just between her and her husband, which can be seen throughout the poem when she frequently states,
‘I love thee’
This shows that the poem has been written directly to her husband, unlike Auden’s poem which has been written more as though he were speaking to the public, relating to his lover as ‘he’.
A suggestion that Auden’s lover meant the world to him and was, in fact, the world, his life and everything to him, is shown when he states,
‘He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week, and my Sunday rest’
A great feeling of helplessness is also conveyed in Auden’s poem,
‘Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun’
This statement gives the impression that for Auden, everything can now stop and pack up because without his lover, the world is nothing and incomplete.
In Barret Browning’s poem, however, she writes of her existing love, which she states to be a pure one,
‘I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise’
This suggests that she loves him as people in general love, in a way that is not coloured by fame or praise.
Repetition is one of the main devices used throughout the poem.
‘I love thee’ is the starting point for each new sentence. Repetition is used to enforce the point being made and make it more powerful, as it acts as a constant reminder and stresses its importance.
Rhetorical devices are also used at the start of the poem where Barret Browning asks,
‘How do I love thee?’
his rhetorical device is used effectively as it introduces the poem in an immediate way, and shows that her feelings have turned into wonder about how much she loves him.
The verse structure of the two poems is also very different.
Barret Browning’s poem, written using iambic pentameter keeps a steady rhythm throughout and is only one verse long, written as a series of statements reaching further than the one before, each sentence growing, in a way bigger and bigger, as she strives to identify why her love transcends the body into the soul. This can be seen when she writes,
‘I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.’
Although the sonnet is written as only one verse there are three main turning points within it, these being highlighted with the changing rhyming scheme. The first part of the poem concerns the soul and rhyming words such as height and sight, ways and grace are used. The poem
then moves on to discuss more her outer actions and feelings before finally, in the last turning point- death and a spiritual side is conveyed using different rhyming words such as ‘death’ and ‘breath’.
Barret Browning also cleverly weighs up past and present and finally future when she states,
‘I shall but love thee better after death’
This also implies that Robert Browning, to whom she was writing, meant more and was more important to her than God. This is a very courageous statement to have been made, especially at the time it was written, when religion was considered very important.
It also shows that her love for him overshadowed her religion with which she grew up, as she states,
‘and with my childhood’s faith’
Relating to death at the end of the sonnet contrasts completely to the rest of the poem, which has been based on her love for him as it stands, so to suddenly relate this love to death comes as a shock to the reader. However, it can also be noted that the word ‘death’ echoes with ‘breath’, which contrast in meaning. The sonnet does not end as expected, however, as there is no rhyming couple which would normally show finality. Instead of closing the poem, it opens up the new topic of death,
‘I shall but love thee better after death.’
‘Stop all the Clocks’ ,however, is written in four verses. The irregularity of the lines and syllables is possibly a way of representing his fighting against grief. Rhyming words are used at the end of each sentence such as ‘telephone’ ‘bone’ and ‘drum’ ‘come’ which has the effect of stressing what he is saying.
Each poet also has a very different view of loss of love and death. In the case of Barret Browning it is as though she is saying that death will not cause her love for him to end and in fact, death may even cause her to love him more,
‘and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death’
This suggests that Barret Browning feels that death will not stand in the way of her love for her husband.
Auden, however, feels that once death comes, love is over. This can be seen when he states,
‘For nothing now can ever come to any good’
He here, and much throughout the poem, is implying that he is left in the world mourning the loss of his lover. This sentence also stresses his feeling of loss, as he uses the words ‘nothing’, ‘ever’ and ‘any’
In conclusion, the two poets each look at love and loss of love in a totally different light, each conveying their points of view throughout. Barret Browning appears to have a much more optimistic view on love, whether it be an existing one, or one after death, whereas Auden has a much more pessimistic view on it. This could possibly be because Auden has actually experienced the death of his lover, unlike Barret Browning who’s optimistic views could possibly be a reflection of the fact that she has not yet felt what it is like to lose her lover.
