This week’s poem is dedicated to Rachel. It is Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 29: I Think of Thee”.
Yet, O my palm-tree, be it understood
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806—1861)
I will not have my thoughts instead of thee
Who art dearer, better! Rather, instantly
Renew thy presence; as a strong tree should,
Poem 419. Sonnet XXIX: I Think of Thee
I think of thee! — my thoughts do twine and bud
About thee, as wild vines, about a tree,
Put out broad leaves, and soon there’s nought to see
Except the straggling green which hides the wood.
Yet, O my palm-tree, be it understood
I will not have my thoughts instead of thee
Who art dearer, better! Rather, instantly
Renew thy presence; as a strong tree should,
Rustle thy boughs and set thy trunk all bare,
And let these bands of greenery which insphere thee
Drop heavily down, — burst, shattered, everywhere!
Because, in this deep joy to see and hear thee
And breathe within thy shadow a new air,
I do not think of thee — I am too near thee.
A necessarily short poem this week for various reasons that I don’t propose to enlarge upon, it is a sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who writes about the distinction between thinking about the one that you love and their actual (and more welcome) presence.
The sonnet begins by describing how, when we think about a loved one, we necessarily embroider on the reality, expanding and surrounding it like vines or ivy growing on a tree until the rose-tinted thoughts obscure the actual person completely and there is “nought to see/Except the straggling green which hides the wood”
The poet rejects these romantic dreams and prefers to think only of the reality: “Who art dearer, better!” and when the real person is present and asserts their personality and character, the dreams rupture like broken bands of parasitic plants “burst, shattered, everywhere!” and because her sweetheart is present, she does not build up idle and unrealistic dreams because there is no need: “I do not think of thee—I am too near thee.”
The poem emphasises that when we have the real person with us, we do not need the often romantic and unrealistic image of them that we may otherwise visualise. Their presence is enough to break the illusion and dissipate the dreams.
It is a long time since I was fortunate enough to have someone that I might daydream about only to discover that the reality is richer and exceeds in every way my imaginings and I count myself lucky in the extreme that I have found another soulmate on whom I can feel a “deep joy to see and hear…And breathe within thy shadow a new air.”
There are numerous analyses of the poem on YouTube but I have chosen a performance by Shanid on the Everyday – Poetry channel.