Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnets from the Portuguese” contains forty-four sonnets. The sequence traces the development of a love relationship from uncertainty and fear toward mutual commitment and marriage.
The title is partly a disguise. Barrett Browning initially presented the poems as translations or adaptations, but “from the Portuguese” referred to Robert Browning’s nickname for her rather than to a Portuguese source text. The sonnets are now recognized as original poems written by Barrett Browning.
The sequence is closely connected with the poets’ courtship. Robert Browning admired Barrett Browning’s poetry, and the two married in 1846 despite opposition from her father. The poems were published in 1850, after their marriage, and became among the most famous Victorian love sonnets.
The best-known poem in the sequence is Sonnet 43, beginning “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” It is not the final sonnet: Sonnet 44 completes the collection, a detail sometimes missed when the sequence is discussed through its most famous individual poem.