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1. The Passion in Your Life7

More than 500 heartfelt letters were exchanged between poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett. When they first met, Elizabeth was a recluse, having suffered for years with a lung ailment and, later in life, a spinal injury resulting from a horse riding accident. She was also deeply depressed after the tragic drowning of her brother. But in 1844, Robert sought her out after admiring her poems and brought her back to life. They were determined to be together forever. Elizabeth’s father bit-terly opposed the romance, so the couple secretly married in 1846 and ran off to live in Florence, Italy. There, her health improved and she gave birth to a son. Elizabeth died on June 29, 1861. Their love was forever memorialized in verse:

“Sonnets from the Portuguese 43”

“How do I love thee…”

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.I love thee to the depth and breadth and heightMy soul can reach, when feeling out of sightFor the ends of Being and ideal Grace.I love thee to the level of everyday’sMost quiet need, by sun and candlelight.I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.I love thee with a passion put to useIn my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to loseWith my lost saints, —I love thee with the breath,Smiles, tears, of all my life! —and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

Historic Romances: Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett