How do I love thee is a phrase that could very easily come from Shakespeare – perhaps from one of his sonnets. The line is from a sonnet and it is about love. In fact, if you were asked in a quiz where it came from, you may well answer “Shakespeare.” But you would be wrong. Shakespeare doesn’t have a monopoly on the theme of love, nor on the sonnet form. It is, in fact, the opening of a sonnet by a Victorian poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and here is the ‘How do I love thee’ sonnet in full: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
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