“If thou must love me, let it be for nought (Sonnets from the Portuguese 14)” Introduction

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“If thou must love me, let it be for nought (Sonnets from the Portuguese 14)” Summary

“If thou must love me, let it be for nought (Sonnets from the Portuguese 14)” Themes

• 

  The True Nature of Love

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “If thou must love me, let it be for nought (Sonnets from the Portuguese 14)”

• Lines 1-2

  If thou must love me, let it be for nought
  Except for love's sake only.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 2-4

  Do not say
  "I love her for her smile—her look—her way
  Of speaking gently,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-6

  —for a trick of thought
  That falls in well with mine, and certes brought
  A sense of pleasant ease on such a day"—

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-9

  For these things in themselves, Belovèd, may
  Be changed, or change for thee,—and love, so wrought,
  May be unwrought so.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  Neither love me for
  Thine own dear pity's wiping my cheeks dry,—
  A creature might forget to weep, who bore
  Thy comfort long, and lose thy love thereby!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-14

  But love me for love's sake, that evermore
  Thou may'st love on, through love's eternity.

  

  

  

  

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“If thou must love me, let it be for nought (Sonnets from the Portuguese 14)” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Consonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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“If thou must love me, let it be for nought (Sonnets from the Portuguese 14)” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Thou, thee, thine, thy
• Nought
• Trick of thought
• Certes
• Wrought
• Bore
• Thereby
• Evermore
• May'st

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “If thou must love me, let it be for nought (Sonnets from the Portuguese 14)”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“If thou must love me, let it be for nought (Sonnets from the Portuguese 14)” Speaker

“If thou must love me, let it be for nought (Sonnets from the Portuguese 14)” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “If thou must love me, let it be for nought (Sonnets from the Portuguese 14)”

More “If thou must love me, let it be for nought (Sonnets from the Portuguese 14)” Resources

• External Resources

  • Life, Work, and Letters — Watch a short talk on Elizabeth Barrett Browning's life and work—as well as on the extraordinarily romantic correspondence between the poet and her eventual husband.

  • Browning's Biography — A short biography and links to more of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's poems.

  • Browning's Artistic Philosophy — Learn more about how the poet approached her art in this essay from Brain Pickings.

  • Sonnets from the Portuguese — The British Library's overview of the sequence of which this poem is part.

  • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of the poem (with dramatic accompanying music).

  • The Poem Illustrated — See an illuminated version of the poem from an 1897 manuscript.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

  • How do I love thee? Let me count the ways (Sonnets from the Portuguese 43)

  • I think of thee (Sonnet 29)

  • The Cry of the Children