Point of View

"How Do I Love Thee?" is written from the first-person perspective of the speaker, who poses a rhetorical question to her beloved at the beginning of the poem. She purports to be "counting" all the ways she loves her partner, but in reality her love defies a logical collation and she instead finds herself speaking in metaphorical and abstract language. This ironic element of the poem emphasizes how the speaker is deeply affected by the love she feels for her beloved; she cannot fulfill the promise of "counting" because she becomes too caught up in the experience of love itself. Finally, most critics argue that "How Do I Love Thee?" is a poem written from Elizabeth Barrett Browning herself to her husband, Robert Browning. However, the poem does not confirm this speculation and can instead be read as the expression of love from any one...