Skip to content
Linespedia

Sonnets From The Portuguese XXVI

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Topics: classic

I lived with visions for my company     Instead of men and women, years ago,     And found them gentle mates, nor thought to know     A sweeter music than they played to me.     But soon their trailing purple was not free     Of this worlds dust, their lutes did silent grow,     And I myself grew faint and blind below     Their vanishing eyes. Then thou didst come, to be,     Belovd, what they seemed. Their shining fronts,     Their songs, their splendours, (better, yet the same,     As river-water hallowed into fonts)     Met in thee, and from out thee overcame     My soul with satisfaction of all wants:     Because Gods gifts put mans best dreams to shame.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"I lived with visions for my company..."

Exploring the themes of classic, Elizabeth Barrett Browning delivers a powerful performance in "Sonnets From The Portuguese XXVI"... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"I lived with visions for my company..." by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"God, God!     With a childs voice I cry,     Weak, sad, confidingly,     God, God!     Thou knowest, eyelids, raised not always up     Unto"

"With stammering lips and insufficient sound     I strive and struggle to deliver right     That music of my nature, day and night     With drea"

""Theu theu, ti prosderkesthe m ommasin, tekna;"     [Alas, alas, why do you gaze at me with your eyes, my children.]     - Medea.     Do ye h"

"Belovd, thou hast brought me many flowers     Plucked in the garden, all the summer through,     And winter, and it seemed as if they grew"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

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.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"God, God!     With a childs voice I cry,     Weak,..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.