Prometheus Bound, and other poems/Sonnets from the Portuguese

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Prometheus Bound, and other poems (1850)
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Sonnets from the Portuguese

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Sonnets from the Portuguese, written ca. 1845–1846 and first published in Poems (2 vols.) in 1850, is a collection of 44 love sonnets written by Browning. She was initially hesitant to publish the poems, believing they were too personal, but, her husband insisted they were the best sequence of English-language sonnets since Shakespeare's time and urged her to publish them. To offer the couple some privacy, she decided to publish them as if they were translations of foreign sonnets. The title derives in part from her husband's nickname for her: "my little Portuguese".

In this version of the Sonnets, number XLII. My future will not copy fair my past is not included in the collection, but appears elsewhere in the same volume.

73530Prometheus Bound, and other poems — Sonnets from the PortugueseElizabeth Barrett Browning

SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE.

Sonnets (not listed in original)

* Sonnet I. (I thought once how Theocritus had sung)
* Sonnet II. (But only three in all God's universe)
* Sonnet III. (Unlike are we, unlike, O princely Heart!)
* Sonnet IV. (Thou hast thy calling to some palace-floor)
* Sonnet V. (I lift my heavy heart up solemnly)
* Sonnet VI. (Go from me.  Yet I feel that I shall stand)
* Sonnet VII. (The face of all the world is changed, I think)
* Sonnet VIII. (What can I give thee back, O liberal)
* Sonnet IX. (Can it be right to give what I can give?)
* Sonnet X. (Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful indeed)
* Sonnet XI. (And therefore if to love can be desert)
* Sonnet XII. (Indeed this very love which is my boast)
* Sonnet XIII. (And wilt thou have me fashion into speech)
* Sonnet XIV. (If thou must love me, let it be for nought)
* Sonnet XV. (Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear)
* Sonnet XVI. (And yet, because thou overcomest so)
* Sonnet XVII. (My poet thou canst touch on all the notes)
* Sonnet XVIII. (I never gave a lock of hair away)
* Sonnet XIX. (The soul's Rialto hath its merchandize)
* Sonnet XX. (Beloved, my beloved, when I think)
* Sonnet XXI. (Say over again, and yet once over again)
* Sonnet XXXII. (When our two souls stand up erect and strong)
* Sonnet XXIII. (Is it indeed so?  If I lay here dead)
* Sonnet XXIV. (Let the world's sharpness like a clasping knife)
* Sonnet XXV. (A heavy heart, Beloved, have I borne)
* Sonnet XXVI. (I lived with visions for my company)
* Sonnet XXVII. (My own Beloved, who hast lifted me)
* Sonnet XXVIII. (My letters! all dead paper, mute and white!)
* Sonnet XXIX. (I think of thee!—my thoughts do twine and bud)
* Sonnet XXX. (I see thine image through my tears to-night)
* Sonnet XXXI. (Thou comest! all is said without a word)
* Sonnet XXXII. (The first time that the sun rose on thine oath)
* Sonnet XXXIII. (Yes, call me by my pet-name! let me hear)
* Sonnet XXXIV. (With the same heart, I said, I'll answer thee)
* Sonnet XXXV. (If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange)
* Sonnet XXXVI. (When we met first and loved, I did not build)
* Sonnet XXXVII. (Pardon, oh, pardon, that my soul should make)
* Sonnet XXXVIII. (First time he kissed me, he but only kissed)
* Sonnet XXXIX. (Because thou hast the power and own'st the grace)
* Sonnet XL. (Oh, yes! they love through all this world of ours!)
* Sonnet XLI. (I thank all who have loved me in their hearts)
* Sonnet XLII. (How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways)
* Sonnet XLIII. (Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers)

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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