Week 11 Discussion

The greeting card lyrics and the sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” conveys two ideas of love that can be compared and contrasted. The greeting card lyrics shows love as an emotion of trust and warmth, a directed expression towards someone that is specific, clear and simple, yet deep and emotional. The rhythm of the greeting card lyrics is calm and there is slight rhyme such as “Because you’re a part of my favorite memories as well as my most important dreams.” The mood and tone is very romantic and passionate, stating lyrics such as, “Why Do I Love You So Much? Because I trust you more than anyone in the world.” The Italian sonnet follows a different structure in which it follows a Petrarchan sonnet pattern, consisting of 14 lines and a significant rhyme scheme. This sonnet conveys a formal, sensual, deep and soul-filled love. The repetition of the speaker saying “I love thee” brings to light the rhythm of the poem. It is also a hyperbole in a sense where it is an exaggeration of the phrase, used to further show readers the emotion of how strong her love that she is trying to convey through her poem and the usage of this phrase. The speaker states in her poem, “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight.” This shows a significance in her expression of love being that she is comparing it to something spiritual. Love expands through her soul and body. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” and the greeting card lyric “Why Do I Love You So Much?” convey love in similar ways but contain different literary aspects.  Both pieces convey a strong love and devotion for the subject. The poem by Browning emphasizes on the depth and intensity of love, whilst the card talks of trust and emotional support. The card refers to recollections and dreams, and Browning’s poem makes use of natural images to depict the wide nature of love. Both pieces use imagery to convey their emotions. The way the two pieces use rhyme and meter is the primary difference between them. The card isn’t bound to any particular meter or rhyme scheme, unlike Browning’s sonnet, which adopts the standard rhyme pattern. This shows the differences between a sonnet’s organized shape and a greeting card’s free-verse style. Browning’s poem has the well-known phrase “How do I love thee? “Let me count the ways,” she says, emphasizing how extensive her devotion is. The card, on the other hand, emphasizes the value of trust in a relationship by stating, “Because I trust you more than anyone in the world,” which communicates affection.

The poem “Why Do I Love You So Much” is an expression of the speakers feelings of love and trust for someone. The poem is constructed in short lines with a tone that really reflects  the intimacy of a relationship. When talking about imagery this poem shows that clearly to convey the speakers emotions. For example the lines “to remind how to laugh” and “favorite memories”. On the other hand, “How Do I love Thee” by Browning Sonnet is a poem that expresses the speakers affection for a summer day. This poem uses figurative language and imagery to compare affection to a summer day. The line “Thou art more lovely and more temperate” compares the person to a summer day that is not too hot or too cold. In my opinion, both poems use imagery to convey emotions and ideas. As well as expressing feelings of love and admiration to an figure or object like a summer day or a person.

The greeting card Lyrics  “Why Do I Love You So Much?” in relation to the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee? both do share a theme of exploring the depth, affection and the reasons behind loving someone . The lyrics in the greeting card have simple and straightforward words that expresses the feelings of the speaker for trust and relaying on the person they love.The While in the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee? it uses more complex words to express love and also uses metaphors in it.The fourteen lines of the poem are rhyming and there is a repetition of the phrase “I love thee” which shows the intensity of the love of the speaker.

Lyrics of greeting cards like “Why do I love you so much” express deep love and passion for someone. The lyrics may express the feeling of being overwhelmed by love and a deep emotional connection to the person mentioned in the greeting card. The tone may be romantic, sensual, and perhaps even poetic. On the other hand, Browning’s sonnet “How Do I Love Thee? (also known as Sonnet 43) is a classic love poem that expresses deep and abiding love in a more structured and formal way. The poem, composed by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, is in iambic pentameter five-step long stanzas and follows a strict rhyming format (ABBA ABBA CDCDCD), a form typical of Petrarchan poetry. The poem reflects a deep, mature and enduring love that transcends time and circumstance. Although both the greeting card lyrics and Browning’s sonnet express love, they differ in tone, style and depth. Greeting card lyrics may be more modern, casual and direct, focusing on the emotional experience of love in the moment. Browning’s sonnet, on the other hand, is a more eloquent, formal and thoughtful expression of love, exploring the complexity and depth of emotion. It uses carefully chosen words and follows a strict poetic form in order to convey a love that endures and transcends time and space. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

The poem “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the greeting card  “Why Do I Love You So Much?” address love and affection in distinct ways, structurally speaking. Through repetition of vivid imagery , meter, and rhyme. Barrett Browning’s use of these poetic devices emphasizes the speaker’s deep affection for their lover, evident through the words, “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight” It is her complete arrangement of musical elements like a musical tune that further emphasizes how strongly she feels about their romantic partner.While poetic techniques are absent from the lyrics of greeting cards meant to convey love, they utilize a direct and comprehensible language. The apparent ease with which “Why Do I Love You So Much?” expresses emotions enables readers to comprehend the speaker’s emotion and recognize those tangible and supportive elements inherent to love. Indeed, the message of love is very clear, and its cornerstone attribute of simplicity is laid out plainly; “Because I trust you / more than anyone in the world / to listen, to help me through.”While both texts share the central theme of love, they approach it differently in terms of style and structure. Browning’s sonnet delves into love, showcasing a more formal and elaborate poetic style, whereas the greeting card lyrics emphasize the relatable and nurturing qualities of love through a casual and direct tone.

The two poems “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and the gift card “Why Do I Love You So Much”, are declarations of love written for loved ones. The sonnet has fourteen lines, while the greeting card has eleven lines. They begin with fairly simple questions that everyone has already had the opportunity to ask themselves. In Browning’s poem we have the presence of the hyperbole “I will love you better after death” which the author uses to reinforce the image of endless and limitless love while in the gift card , the author uses a list to tell us the reasons he loves his partner. The sonnet uses rhyme, formal language, and tone to emphasize what she is trying to communicate. On the other hand, the card simply states the reasons why he/she likes the person, having no tone, rhyme or anything else to grab the audience’s attention and also having a simple language and structure.

The greeting card lyrics “Why Do I Love You So Much?” and the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” share similarities and differences in their use of poetic elements. Both the card and the sonnet express deep love and admiration for the object of affection. However, while the sonnet describes the many ways in which the speaker loves their beloved, the card seems to focus more on the overwhelming intensity of the feeling of love itself. In terms of language, both the sonnet and the card use vivid and emotional words to convey their message. The sonnet uses words like “depth,” “breadth,” and “height” to express the magnitude of the speaker’s love, while the card uses phrases like “my heart beats faster” and “I am hopelessly in love with you” to convey the intensity of the feeling. Sound and lineation also play a role in both poems. The sonnet’s consistent iambic pentameter and end rhyme scheme give it a musical quality that enhances the emotional impact of the words. The card, on the other hand, uses shorter lines and irregular rhyme and meter to create a more conversational tone. For example, the card might use a line like “I can’t explain what you do to me” to convey a sense of urgency and passion, while the sonnet might use a more measured and formal tone. Imagery is another element that both poems use to express love. The sonnet uses metaphors like “sun and candlelight” and “breath and smiles” to describe the many ways in which the speaker loves their beloved. The card, meanwhile, might use imagery like “you light up my life” or “you complete me” to express the same idea. In terms of rhyme and meter, the sonnet follows a strict pattern of ABBAABBA CDCDCD, while the card’s rhyme scheme and meter are […]

The greeting card lyrics “Why Do I Love You So Much?” and the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” share similarities in their exploration of love, but also have differences in their use of poetic elements. Both pieces use imagery to convey their emotions, such as the metaphor of trust in the card and the metaphors of light and depth in the sonnet. Repetition is also utilized in both, with the refrain “Why Do I Love You So Much?” in the card and the repeated phrase “I love thee” in the sonnet. However, the sonnet is structured with a strict rhyme scheme and metrical verse, while the greeting card is more free-form in its lineation and lacks a specific meter. As the card states, “Why Do I Love You So Much? Because you’re a part / of my favorite memories / as well as my / most important dreams.” In contrast, the sonnet declares, “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.” In summary, both the greeting card and the sonnet express love through the use of poetic devices, but differ in their approaches to form and structure.

In the card greeting, I would label it as a prose versus a poem only because it uses standard sentences that don’t require critical thinking in order to understand it. Both the card and “Sonnet 43” by Elizabeth Barnett Browning reinforce the passion in the author’s love. For example, in “Sonnet 43″, Browning explains, ” I love thee with the breath/Smiles, tears, of all my life” (Browning lines 12-13). This emphasizes the passion behind the author’s love to the point where she invests her life energy into loving. Similarly, in the greeting card, it says “Because you’re a part/of my favorite memories/as well as my/most important dreams”. In both quotes, the author mentions their personal life and includes love as a part of their priorities. In “Sonnet 43”, there is more repetition with “I love thee” to compare the love, and in the greeting card the repetition is more subtle and indirect to where the author repeats the different reasons why they love.

In both “How Do I Love Thee” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and “Why Do I Love You So Much” gift card, the poems start with a question about the love they have for their significant other. After their question,both writers list their reasons but there’s a bit of a difference. In the poem by Browning, the list consists of how much love they have for their significant other using sophisticated language and hyperbole like “I shall love thee better after death” In the gift card, the list are reasons why the writer loves their partner. The writer also uses exaggeration to emphasize how much love they have saying things like “You’re a part of my favorite memories as well as my most important dreams”  Compared to the words used in “How do I Love Thee” the language used in the gift card poem is a bit more standard and easier to understand. The gift card poem also includes the opening question twice for dramatic effect. 

The sonnet “How Do I Love Thee” and the greeting card “Why do I Love you so much?” speak of love. The sonnet comprises fourteen lines, while the greeting card has eleven lines, and the shortest line, “As well as my,” doesn’t catch the reader’s attention and has four syllables. The greeting card has some repetition, such as “Why Do I Love You So Much?” used twice. The greeting card doesn’t have rhymes, but the sonnet sometimes rhymes. There are a couple of examples of imagery in “How Do I Love Thee,” such as “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height” also “With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath.” In my opinion, I think the greeting card is more prose, while the sonnet is more concise or direct than the greeting card.

The greeting card “Why do I love you so much?” and the Browning sonnet “How do I love thee” have their subject in common, but differ on their elements and literary devices. In “How do I love thee” the author emphasizes the depth of her love using many literary devices to engage and communicate her feelings to the audience, such as imagery, alliteration and simile. The sonnet uses rhymes, a formal language and tone to emphasize what she’s trying to communicate. On the other hand, the card just states the reasons why he/she loves the person, having no tone, rhyme, or any other element to catch the audience’s attention and also having simple language and structure.

while the greeting card lyrics rely on vivid imagery and metaphor to convey the intensity of the speaker’s emotions, the Browning sonnet uses more abstract language to express the speaker’s love. For example, the greeting card lyrics use phrases like “My heart beats a little faster” to evoke physical sensations associated with love, while the Browning sonnet uses phrases like “I love thee with a love I seemed to lose / With my lost saints” to express the speaker’s spiritual connection to their beloved. , while both the greeting card lyrics “Why Do I Love You So Much?” and the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” explore the theme of love, they differ in their use of poetic elements. The greeting card lyrics utilize rhyme, repetition, and vivid imagery to create a sense of passion and intensity, while the Browning sonnet uses formal structure and abstract language to convey the speaker’s love.

The greeting card lyrics,  “Why Do I Love You So Much?”  and the Browning Sonnet “How do I love thee?” share many similarities in regards to theme and the main point of the poem. Both of these poems explore the theme of bondage and love. However, the author used varying literally elements to express each poem uniquely.  The main poem where most of these elements can be found in significant amounts would be ‘How do I Love Thee”. One literary element i have identified was visual imagery, where the author uses specific language to poetry an idea or feeling to the audience. In contrast to this, “Why do I Love You So Much?” explores a similar route just without as many literary elements implemented within the poem. For instance, according to the poem, it states, ” Why Do I Love You So Much? Because you’re a part of my favorite memories as well as my most important dreams”. This quote is illustrating a clear example of the author using words and feelings in order to convey an emotion within the reader. The words such as “favorite” and “important” relays the message of the poem, which is love/affection to be taken seriously.

The greeting card lyrics “Why Do I Love You So Much?” and the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” share similarities in their expressions of deep affection and love, but also exhibit differences in their use of poetic elements. In terms of themes, both the poem and the card express deep affection and love towards someone. The Browning sonnet describes a profound love that includes all aspects of life, from the physical to the emotional, while the card speaks of trusting someone deeply and valuing their presence. In terms of poetic elements, both the poem and the card use words and imagery to convey emotions. The Browning sonnet uses vivid imagery such as “depth and breadth and height” and “ends of being and ideal grace” to express the vast and intense love of the teller. The card, on the other hand, uses simpler language, but still demonstrates the view of love through sayings such as “help me through” and “favorite memories.” Overall, the Browning sonnet leans towards a more organized expression of love, while the card has a more casual one.

The greeting card lyrics “Why Do I Love You So Much?” and the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” are both expressions of love, but they have some key differences. The Browning sonnet is a classic example of Romantic poetry, with its formal structure, iambic pentameter, and rhyming scheme. The language is elevated, using images of nature and divine love to express the depth and breadth of the speaker’s feelings. In contrast, the greeting card lyrics are more casual and conversational, using simple language and repetition to create a rhythmic effect. The main similarity between the two poems is their focus on love and the intensity of emotions that come with it. However, while the Browning sonnet describes love as all-encompassing and eternal, the greeting card lyrics focus on the partner’s support and companionship as the source of their love. Overall, both poems use language and form to convey deep emotion, but in different ways that reflect their respective contexts and purposes.  

Both of these poems are a declaration of love. The authors both describe why they love and how much they love. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height. My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight” (Browning). This is flowery language and powerful imagery used by the author to describe her love. I can picture how she feels throughout the poem. “Why Do I Love You So Much? Because you’re a part of my favorite memories as well as my most important dreams. (Unknown). This description also makes me visualize that feeling of being had over heels in love. That special person overtakes your every thought, even your dreams. Both of these poems remind me of the cloud 9 phase where the other person can do no wrong. We all know it doesn’t last forever, but it’s great while it lasts.

I was always curious about poetry. I remember in the 5th grade, we had to write a poem and from what I remember, I worked so hard on mine and that my teacher had loved it. But, I definitely forgot how many different types of poems there are, and the week 11 activities really gave me more knowledge. I really enjoyed watching the video in Activity 3 about sonnets, as I was not familiar at all with this type of poem. One of the sonnets I really enjoyed was Sonnet 18 by Shakespeare. The way he talks about his lover’s beauty and praises her and even compares her beauty to a summer day was so beautiful and captivating. Poems can be so diverse, it can be about love, or even about heartbreak, but no matter what it’s written about, the way it’s written and captured is in a way that will grab your attention for sure.

The text on the greeting card “Why Do I Love You So Much?” and the sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” both discuss love, but are very different. The sonnet is composed of its’ standard fourteen lines with ten syllables per line. The text on the greeting card consists of eleven lines with the lines having either five or seven syllables with no specific order making it a mixed up longer haiku; with the exception of the second to last line with four syllables “as well as my.” This quote displays how the greeting card follows no classic poetic structure, and has no meter. The greeting card has some repetition, asking “Why Do I Love You So Much?” twice. The sonnet begins four lines with “I love thee…” which truly adds to how infatuated the narrator is with the person she is describing. The tone in the sonnet is so much more passionate, while the greeting card is more tender. The sonnet rhymes at times, and the greeting card does not rhyme at all. I really enjoy this part of the sonnet that rhymes and contains imagery that captures the strong feelings of the protagonist: “My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need by sun and candlelight I love thee freely, as men strive for right” (Browning lines 3-7)

I would describe greeting card lyrics “Why do I love you so much?” as more lineation as opposed to “How do I love Thee” which was more imagery for me. The lines I “Why do I love you so much?”  had a break at the end of each line which got me into a flow reading this poem almost immediately. How do I love thee had a lot of imagery in the poem from parts talking about their smiles, and tears. To a moment where it feels like their soul can reach. It paints a picture for me in my head going through emotions making me feel connected throughout the poem.  Although I do like the sound of “Why do I love you so much?” a bit more the typical format worked as it felt like a rhyme a little bit. I read each line of the poem as if there was a beat attached to it.

The greeting card lyrics “Why Do I Love You So Much?” and the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” are both expressions of love and affection, however there are differences between them. In her sonnet, Browning uses figurative and rhetorical devices to create imagery: Personification: “My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight,” “I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.” Simile: “I love thee freely, as men strive for right.” Hyperbole: “I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life Browning uses end-rhyme in her lines: height (3), sight (4), candle-light (6), right (7), use (9), lose (11), choose (13) breath (12), death (14) ways (1), day’s (5), praise (8) Browning’s use of anaphora adds emphasis and rhythm by beginning multiple lines with “I love thee…” In reference to the greeting card, the lines are beautiful but do not create imagery, they simply state the reasons why love is being expressed. There isn’t much of a rhythm other than “Why Do I Love You So Much?” being stated twice. I would describe the greeting card as prose with line breaks and pretty words, where the sonnet is poetry with rhyme and rhythm.

The greeting card lyrics “Why Do I Love You So Much?” and the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” share some similarities in their themes of love and affection, but they differ in their poetic elements. The Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” is a love poem that expresses the speaker’s love for her partner. The poem uses various poetic elements such as imagery, rhyme, meter, and sound to convey the speaker’s feelings of love. For example, the poem uses imagery to describe how much the speaker loves her partner by saying “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach”. The poem also uses rhyme and meter to create a musical quality that emphasizes the speaker’s love for her partner. On the other hand, the greeting card lyrics “Why Do I Love You So Much?” express a similar sentiment of love but do not use as many poetic elements as Browning’s sonnet. The lyrics use simple language to convey the speaker’s feelings of love for their partner.

Both poems “Why Do I Love You So Much?” and “How Do I love Thee?” both express that true love is an all-consuming passion. One is coming more direct to someone and the other poem is just her love for the things going on around her. In text poem “Why Do I Love You So Much?” it says, “Because I trust you more than anyone in the world to listen, to help me through to remind me how to laugh when times are trying”. This greeting card represents the love someone has for somebody else and the way of telling this person is in a greeting card. The other poem “How Do I love Thee?” It says, “I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love you thee with the purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old grief, and with my childhood faith”. Her love for the outside world helps cope with her old grief that sometimes gets in her head at times. Some people express there love in different ways but it’s used the same way.

Both the Browning sonnet “How Do I Love Thee” and the greeting card lyric “Why Do I Love You So Much?” communicate fervent love and devotion, yet they utilize different literary devices. In order to express the speaker’s love, the Browning sonnet adheres to a rigid structure and utilizes formal tone. With words like “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height / My soul can reach,” the imagery is mostly metaphorical and visual. The rhyme scheme is also formal, with an ABBA ABBA CDC DCD pattern. In contrast, the words on greeting cards convey affection through cherished memories and experiences by using a conversational tone, particular imagery, and repetition. The phrase “Why Do I Love You So Much?” appears at the start and conclusion of each verse, utilizing repetition in the poem. Less allegorical and more concrete, the imagery refers to familiar situations and recollections, as in the line “to remind me how to laugh / when times are trying”. Despite variances in literary aspects, both pieces portray the overpowering sense of love and the desire to share that love with someone else. The sonnet describes the depth of the speaker’s love using formal language and metaphorical imagery, but the greeting card lyrics communicate love via shared experiences using a conversational tone and repetition.

Comparing these two poems, it can be defined that they are quite different in many ways: Form: “How Do I Love Thee?” includes 14 lines. It is a classical sonnet size, while the card has only 13. Also, according to the video lecture, the shortest lines in the poem should be important and consist of poetry. On the postcard, the shortest line is the following: “as well as my”, which doesn’t make sense, because the shortest line will definitely catch our attention. Rhyme: Elizabeth Barrett Browning uses the abba (ways, height, sight, grace) abba (day’s, candle-light, right, praise) cdcdcd (use, faith, to lose, breath, choose, death) rhyme form. It’s impossible to define the rhyme scheme on this postcard as there are no rhymes there at all. Imagery: there are many examples of imagery in “How Do I Love Thee”, such as “I love thee to the depth and breadth and height”, “With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath”, “I love thee to the level of every day’s”. Also, the author uses other literary devices. Alliteration: “I love thee with the breath”,simile: “I love thee freely, as men strive for right”, hyperbole “I shall but love thee better after death” (here I’m not sure, because maybe she is just  very religious kind of person and has a strong believe the life after death), repetition: “I love thee, I hove thee…”. All these devices create the imagery and make the reader feel more active. Speaking about the card: the author just declares the fact why he loves the person he/she addresses these lines, so they don’t create an imagery effect. There is only one case of repetition here: “Why do I love you so much?”. The subject of these two works is the same. This subject is love. However, […]