Sonnets from the Portuguese, 41

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Teacher card

Published: 1850, in Sonnets from the Portuguese
Length: 14 lines, 113 words, 1 word in 19 is long
Year band: Reading load: Years 5–6. A guide from word length, not a curriculum level.
Themes: love, thanks
Time: 5–10 min, depending on the activity

The text

I thank all who have loved me in their hearts,With thanks and love from mine. Deep thanks to allWho paused a little near the prison-wallTo hear my music in its louder partsEre they went onward, each one to the mart’sOr temple’s occupation, beyond call.But thou, who, in my voice’s sink and fallWhen the sob took it, thy divinest Art’sOwn instrument didst drop down at thy footTo harken what I said between my tears, . . .Instruct me how to thank thee! Oh, to shootMy soul’s full meaning into future years,That they should lend it utterance, and saluteLove that endures, from life that disappears!

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (died 1861), Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850), lines 952–965 of Project Gutenberg ebook #2002. Public domain in Australia: the author died before 1955. Copied word for word and checked against the ebook.

What to do with it

One link and one task line for each activity. Send a student the one you want them to do, or print this page and hand it round; each link has a QR code.

Its lines are dealt for names in posy cardsin posy · 14 lines · about 5–10 min
Task for students (you can change the sentence before you print; nothing is saved)See how posy takes lines from this poem, then make a card for someone using them.
See how posy takes lines from this poem, then make a card for someone using them.
posy.popplepoetry.com/sources#bb-41

Send the whole hand-out

This page’s link. Students open it, read the text and pick what to do; nothing asks them to sign in.

Link for the whole text

https://popplepoetry.com/find/browning-sonnets-from-the-portuguese-41 · popplepoetry.com