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Sonnets From The Portuguese XI

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Topics: classic

And therefore if to love can be desert,     I am not all unworthy. Cheeks as pale     As these you see, and trembling knees that fail     To bear the burden of a heavy heart,     This weary minstrel-life that once was girt     To climb Aornus, and can scarce avail     To pipe now gainst the valley nightingale     A melancholy music, why advert     To these things? O Belovd, it is plain     I am not of thy worth nor for thy place!     And yet, because I love thee, I obtain     From that same love this vindicating grace     To live on still in love, and yet in vain,     To bless thee, yet renounce thee to thy face.

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Author:Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"And therefore if to love can be desert,..." by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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Elizabeth Barrett Browning

About Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861) was one of the most prominent English poets of the Victorian era. Her "Sonnets from the Portuguese" are among the most famous love poems in English, and her verse novel "Aurora Leigh" addressed women's roles in society and art.

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