“Life in a Love” Summary

“Life in a Love” Themes

• 

  Unrequited Love and Fate

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• 

  The Power of Hope

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Life in a Love”

• Lines 1-3

  Escape me?
  Never—
  Beloved!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-7

  While I am I, and you are you,
  So long as the world contains us both,
  Me the loving and you the loth,
  While the one eludes, must the other pursue.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 8-10

  My life is a fault at last, I fear:
  It seems too much like a fate, indeed!
  Though I do my best I shall scarce succeed.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-15

  But what if I fail of my purpose here?
  It is but to keep the nerves at strain,
  To dry one's eyes and laugh at a fall,
  And, baffled, get up and begin again,—
  So the chase takes up one's life, that's all.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 16-19

  While, look but once from your farthest bound
  At me so deep in the dust and dark,
  No sooner the old hope goes to ground
  Than a new one, straight to the self-same mark,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 20-22

  I shape me—
  Ever
  Removed!

  

  

  

  

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“Life in a Love” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Aporia

  

  

  

  

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• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Extended Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Antithesis

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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“Life in a Love” 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.

• Loth
• Eludes
• Pursue
• Nerves at strain
• Baffled
• Farthest bound
• Self-same
• Mark

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Life in a Love”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Life in a Love” Speaker

“Life in a Love” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Life in a Love”

More “Life in a Love” Resources

• External Resources

  • Browning's "Two lives of love" — Read an article that explores Browning's conception of and interest in romantic love by comparing his two poems "Life in a Love" and "Love in a Life."

  • Browning's Biography — Learn more about Browning's life and work via the Poetry Foundation.

  • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a live reading of "Life in a Love."

  • The Victorian Era — Learn more about the exciting era in which Browning lived and wrote.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Robert Browning

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