I love poetry. It’s a true art form; every word carefully selected; each stanza meticulously crafted. A poem has a unique ability to capture a moment, a mood, an interpretation that touches a reader’s thoughts and feelings. For me, a powerful poem can resonate with the soul, and echo in your mind for the rest of your life.

The nuns at my French convent school gave me a grounding in classic poetry, and I loved it so that I went on to study literature at university. Much of my study focused on French writers, but one English poet stood out for me. The writings and poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) are the very epitome of romance. Take just a handful of examples from her many works:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways./I love thee to the depth and breadth and height/My soul can reach 

I love you not only for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me. I love you for the part of me that you bring out.

You’re something between a dream and a miracle.

You were made perfectly to be loved and surely I have loved you in the idea of you my whole life long. 

Who so loves believes the impossible.”

… love me for love’s sake, that evermore/Thou may’st love on, through love’s eternity.

My heart sighs at the very reading.

What makes the romance so heightened is the fact that these are parts of real love letters between Elizabeth and Robert Browning (and he, in turn, wrote wonderfully romantic responses). Elizabeth was already a successful published writer when Robert Browning read her works and fell in love with her. He sought an introduction, and from there they began a secretive and highly passionate courtship. As man and wife, their passion for each other knew no bounds, and when Elizabeth passed away in Robert’s arms he said that she died ‘smilingly, happily, and with a face like a girl’s’.

Aside from her beautiful writing and her sublime ability to capture romance, I find Elizabeth’s works inspiring for my own writing. This was a woman who immersed herself in words; who was unafraid in exploring subjects that were controversial (her anti-slavery poems are a case in point); and who – for her times – was most impressively courageous in seeking an audience for her writing, despite a lifelong battle with ill health.

And what is not to admire in a woman who so loved books? Take the following from Aurora Leigh:

Books, books, books had found the secret of a garret-room
piled high with cases in my father’s name;
Piled high, packed large, – where, creeping in and out
among the giant fossils of my past, like some small nimble mouse
between the ribs of a mastodon, I nibbled here and there
at this or that box, pulling through the gap, in heats
of terror, haste, victorious joy, the first book first.
And how I felt it beat under my pillow, in the morning’s dark.
An hour before the sun would let me read!
My books! 

If, like me, you find Elizabeth inspirational, I highly recommend the following books:

• Sonnets from the Portuguese
• Aurora Leigh
• The Love Letters of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: A Biography by Margaret Forster