Themes
English Lit: AQA GCSE Poetry - Love & Relationships, topic 4.1.2
Tree and Vine Symbolism
Browning builds up an extended metaphor of her feelings being vines, while her lover is a steadfast tree:
Vines and a tree
- Browning builds up an extended metaphor of her feelings being vines, while her lover is a steadfast tree.
- Her thoughts are unconstrained and growing out of control, obscuring the reality of her lover.
- For example: "My thoughts do twine and bud / About thee, as wild vines, about a tree".
Symbolism - shaking off the bondage
- In the final sestet (last six lines) of the poem, the tree shakes off the bondage of the vines.
- This symbolises her allowing her lover to reassert himself in her life as a physical presence, rather than simply a thought.
Excited Language
As the narrator reaches a state of breaking free from her thoughts, the language of the poem becomes excited.
Exclamations and explosive verbs
- Exclamations and explosive verbs, such as "burst" and "shattered", show the narrator’s reinvigorated (reenergised) desire for her lover.
"Renew thy presence; as a strong tree should"
- The imperative verb "renew" shows the decisiveness of the narrator now that she has realised she wants her lover to reassert his physical presence in her life.
Test yourself on Themes
What literary device does Barrett Browning use to show that she's letting her lover reassert himself in her life as a physical presence?
Who is represented by the image of a tree?
How could we interpret Barrett Browning's use of excited language in Sonnet 29?