Moreover, this scenario also reappears at the end of the sonnet, where Browning says: "...if God chooses, / I will love you no more after death" ( 13-14). In this comparison, Browning's love extends beyond death to the afterlife, where death becomes a physical and visual point of reference, however, the afterlife is not something the reader can visualize. Therefore, the relationship between Browning's love and the afterlife could not be more elusive to the reader, as the reader has no idea what Browning's particular afterlife is like compared to his sonnet. Furthermore, Browning's final line and the two lines mentioned above all have a common idea: Browning's comparisons all revolve around contradictions. The sonnet is essentially about the great, vast love that Browning feels for her husband, however, that great, vast love is limited by every comparison, for every comparison has an unshakable finality. For example, in the first verse mentioned, Browning's love is compared to a measurable quantity, "the depth, the breadth, and the height[,]" (2) the volume of his soul. In this case, how much his soul can hold is limited by the measurable amount of volume. Also, the second verse, to the lines 5
tags