Sonnets from the Portuguese and Other Love Poems

📕 These love poems have long been considered the finest ever written by a woman in the English language, and their literary excellence is surpassed only by the sonnets of Shakespeare. First published in 1850, SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE is composed of forty-four interlocking poems which Elizabeth had secretly written for her husband, Robert Browning. The strange title of the Sonnets originated, as did the poems themselves, as homage to Browning, and it was selected in loving acknowledgment of her husband's playful way of calling her his "own little Portuguese" because of her olive complexion. In addition to the forty-four sonnets there are twenty-two of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's other love poems included in this illustrated volume. Among them are the famous Catarina to Camoens, as well as Once Loved, Life and Love, and A Denial. This new edition of the SONNETS contains eight beautiful full-color illustrations by Adolf Hallman, internationally known artist, and is a book to treasure.