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Poet's Corner
Explanation: "Sonnet 43"
Line 1
At this point the reader cannot know whether this is a rhetorical
question. The opening line might seem to present an impossibility or an
absurdity in its attempt to define an abstract concept, love, by
mathematically adding up instances of it.
Lines 2-4
Dealing in lofty and abstract ideas, the speaker provides no image or
symbol to make her love concrete or easy to grasp. Since "Sonnet 43"
appears second to last in the cycle of sonnets, some critics have
justified these abstractions by referencing them to other sonnets in the
volume, arguing that the sonnets must be read as an intertwined narrative
to be fully understood. Be that as it may, the abstractions occuring at
this point establish the largeness of her love, maybe even making it
beyond comprehension. Several critics have pointed out that "the depth and
breadth and height" echoes Ephesians III 17-19, where Saint Paul prays for
comprehension of the length, breadth, depth, and height of Christ's love
and the fulness of God. The terms "Depth, breadth, and height" all refer
to dimensions, and the speaker specifies the condition of her soul at the
time these dimensions are largest: "when feeling out of sight." Taken in
context, the phrase probably describes a soul that feels limitless. Other
phrases can be decoded to similarly spiritual expressions of love and
being, including "For the ends of Being" — death or at least a bodily
death — and "ideal Grace" — heaven. Specific religious meanings for
concepts like "grace," "soul," and "being" are, however, far from given,
since the poem provdes a good deal of room individual interpretation.
Lines 5-6
Sun and candle-light are the first concrete images we come across in
this poem. The earthly time frame these lines suggest, however, is still
limitless and all-encompassing; "by sun and candle-light" refers to both
day and night.
Lines 7-8
The speaker's perspective narrows or even "comes down to earth" a
little, shifting from its most religious tone to a focus on more
apparently secular human interests. She does, however, select a
particularly glorified image of humanity to identify with her love,
personifying it as men who are both righteous and humble.
Lines 9-10
The perspective contracts further — and provides the sonnet's "turn."
The speaker's very broad and abstract view becomes concretely personal,
turning away from the limitlessness of religion or the outside world to
the within of her individual past. Specifically, she describes her love
such that it changes the quality of grief, making that grief almost
welcome in retrospect. The word "passion," however, introduces several
levels of meaing; most significantly, it brings back the religious
allusions of lines two through four by recalling the passion of Christ The
image of a childhood faith, distinct from the speaker's current faith,
suggests something especially pure and innocent.
Lines 11-12
It seems that romantic love rescues a lost religious faith, or at least
rescues the passion and impulse the speaker used to feel for religious
faith. The "lost saints" can be read both literally and figuratively, as
the saints of the church, Christian liturgy or ritual, or even people who
once guided the speaker — her own personal saints.
Lines 13-14
"Smiles, tears, of all my life" echoes back to "my old griefs" in line
10, and the speaker begins the closure of the poem where she hopes to be
able to achieve an even greater love after death. With humility, the
speaker acknowledges that this desire might not be within her power to
satisfy.
Source: Exploring Poetry, Gale, 1997.
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