Discussion Board 3 Keila Orellano

I chose the poem How Do I Love Thee?

How Do I Love Thee?

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
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

I read this poem multiple times to understand in depth what the poem means and what the speaker was trying to say and understand what the writer was saying. For me, the message was not as direct. As stated in the article How to Read a Poem, “Reading poetry is a challenge, but like so many other things, it takes practice, and your skills and insight improve as you progress .”The first time I read this poem, I figured it was about love; as it states in the title and throughout the poem, it mentioned how the writer loved the person. However, I did not grasp much of the rest of the poem in depth. It was a bit hard to understand for me; each line did not make much sense the first time around as I read the poem. For example, In the last line, “I shall but love thee better after death,” I asked myself, how can you love someone after death? Once you are dead, you have no feelings; you have no conscience, so how can you love after death? Poetry, for me, is not straightforward and could be challenging to understand. However, practice makes perfection. As stated, this poem is about love; the writer speaks of how she loves and adores her loved one. She also expresses her fascination and innocence and her deep love for him. the writer also, details how her love will eventually get stronger as time goes on.