Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, detail of an oil painting by Michele Gordigiani, 1858; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Sonnets from the Portuguese
poetry by Browning
Sonnets from the Portuguese, collection of love sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, published in 1850. The poet’s reputation rests largely upon these sonnets, which constitute one of the best-known series of English love poems. Elizabeth Barrett Browning presented this volume of 44 sonnets to her husband, poet Robert Browning, in 1847, a year after they secretly eloped to Italy. The poems record the early days of their courtship, when the invalid author was reluctant to...