Sonnets from the Portuguese


Read by Kirsten Ferreri

(4.8 stars; 20 reviews)

Sonnets from the Portuguese, written ca. 1845–1846 and first published in 1850, is a collection of forty-four love sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The poems largely chronicle the period leading up to her 1846 marriage to Robert Browning. The collection was acclaimed and popular even in the poet's lifetime and it remains so today. Elizabeth was initially hesitant to publish the poems, feeling that they were too personal. However, Robert insisted that they were the best sequence of English-language sonnets since Shakespeare's time and urged her to publish them. To offer the couple some privacy, she decided that she might publish them under a title disguising the poems as translations of foreign sonnets. Therefore, the collection was first to be known as Sonnets from the Bosnian, until Robert suggested that she change their imaginary original language to Portuguese, probably after his nickname for her: "my little Portuguese." (Summary from Wikipedia) (0 hr 47 min)

Chapters

I thought once how Theocritus had sung 1:11 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
But only three in all God’s universe 1:06 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Unlike are we, unlike, o princely heart 1:04 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Thou hast thy calling to some palace floor 1:06 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
I lift my heavy heart up solemnly 1:08 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Go from me. Yet I feel that I shall stand 1:06 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
The face of all the world is changed, I think 1:06 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
What can I give thee back, O liberal 1:07 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Can it be right to give what I can give? 1:04 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Yet, love, mere love, is beautiful enough 1:12 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
And therefore if to love can be desert 1:05 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Indeed this very love which is my boast 1:06 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
And wilt thou have me fashion into speech 1:06 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
If thou must love me, let it be for nought 1:05 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Accuse me not, beseech thee, that I wear 1:03 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
And yet, because thou overcomest so 1:03 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
My poet, thou canst touch on all the notes 1:09 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
I never gave a lock of hair away 1:06 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
The soul’s Rialto hath its merchandise 1:07 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Beloved, my beloved, when I think 1:05 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Say over again, and yet once over again 1:10 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
When our two souls stand up erect and strong 1:03 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead 1:04 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Let the world’s sharpness, like a clasping knife 1:01 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
A heavy heart, Beloved, have I borne 1:02 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
I lived with visions for my company 1:05 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
My own Beloved, who has lifted me 1:06 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
My letters! all dead paper, mute and white! 1:08 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
I think of thee!–my thoughts do twine and bud 1:05 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
I see thine image through my tears tonight 1:04 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Thou comest! All is said without a word 1:01 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
The first time that the sun rose on thine oath 1:03 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Yes, call me by my pet-name! Let me hear 1:03 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
With the same heart, I said, I’ll answer thee 1:01 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange 1:00 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
When we first met and loved, I did not build 1:06 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Pardon, oh, pardon that my soul should make 1:01 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
First time he kissed me, he but only kissed 1:13 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Because thou hast the power and own’st the grace 1:04 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Oh yes! they love all through this world of ours! 1:05 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
I thank all who have loved me in their hearts 1:02 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
My future will not copy fair my past 1:05 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways 1:09 Read by Kirsten Ferreri
Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers 1:09 Read by Kirsten Ferreri