Themes and message

Love

The main theme of the poem “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is love. The sonnet starts with the question which points to the poem’s main theme. 

The theme is sustained throughout the poem with the repetition of the phrase “I love thee” at the beginning of each sentence. The speaker compares her love to the limits of her soul, beyond what human beings can see. She then compares her love to everyday common experiences and the universal experiences of humanity. Lastly, she compares her love to her past experiences and makes a plea to God to have her love persist in the future when she is no longer. In this way, the speaker highlights the continuity of love through time and how its presence can be found everywhere in her life...