Importance of Nature in Love’s Philosophy and Sonnet 29 Essay Example

Both poets in ‘Love’s Philosophy’ and ‘Sonnet 29’ use the semantic field of nature to express their opinions on love. In ‘Love’s Philosophy’ the speaker - presumably Shelley - addresses a woman he is trying to persuade to be with him romantically by comparing the importance of nature to the connection he believes they should have, his tone is persuasive and contains a sense of longing throughout the poem, while in ‘Sonnet 29’ Barrett-Browning uses the importance of nature to voice her overwhelming feelings towards her lover as she comes to terms with wanting him to be physically close to her. Like ‘Love’s Philosophy' the poem has a sense of longing but also an excitable tone reflecting her feelings. 

In the poem ‘Love’s Philosophy’ the title gives us an implication of the context of the poem, ‘Philosophy’ literally defines to ‘love of wisdom’ which is a way of thinking that aims to make a sense of reality and life -  exactly like the speaker appears to be trying to explain how everything is connected and therefore him and his lover should be too. The speaker describes how the ‘fountains mingle with the river and the rivers with the ocean.’ Here Shelley uses personification to draw parallels between what happens in nature and his own desire to be with his lover. By giving descriptive details of the natural world receiving and benefiting from love - this emphasises his point that love itself is natural and necessary. The change of landscape going from the ‘fountains’ to the ‘ocean’ also shows the increasing scale of imagery indicating the water joining larger and larger bodies which hints that loving someone makes you part of something bigger than yourself. Shelley’s intention for this may have been to allude to the fact that everything is connected to everything else and it would be impossible to ignore how the bonds of nature tie us together. This intuitive deception of nature being connected with love and relationships may surprise a reader as love appears more broader and detailed than what they initially thought so they become more inclined for the two lovers to get together. 

Similarly, in ‘Sonnet 29 - I think of thee’ the title has a more uplifting emotional tone indicating the speaker’s powerful feelings towards her lover. It is clear she is going to express the thoughts she has about him, possibly implying she can’t get him off her mind. The speaker - presumably Barret - Browning - starts off in depth from the title describing how thoughts about her lover ‘twine and bud about thee like wild vines about a tree.’ Here Barrett - Browning uses natural imagery to show how her thoughts focus on him like wild vines around a tree - highlighting how her thoughts are constantly growing and developing. The use of the metaphor comparing her lover to ‘the tree’ and her thoughts as the ‘wild vines’ suggests she has possessive feelings towards her lover and her thoughts are spiky(protruding) and uncontrollable like vines -  this implies that her thoughts are encompassing him almost obstructing him from her view. Barret - Browning’s intention for this obsessive imagery may relate to her real life experience of being unable to be with her lover - Robert Browning - due to her over - bearing father . This built up tension may be the effect of being unable to be physically close to him for so long and having only letters as communication. This upsetting experience may cause the reader to sympathise with her as they may compare the speaker's experiences to Barrett Browning's life and have more of an understanding towards her desire of love and even the use of the natural world as a possible indication for her feelings of being locked up. 

On the other hand, ‘Love’s Philosophy’ has two stanzas with a regular ABAB rhyme scheme but two lines in each stanza don’t fully rhyme - this reflects the way that all of nature is in harmony except for the narrator and his loved one. In the lines 1-3 ‘river’ and ‘ever’ are half rhymes as are ‘heaven’ and ‘forgiven’ in the second stanza. Shelley uses this clash of half rhymes to contrast with the simplistic structure of the poem and reflect how the fact that the two lovers aren't united is something unnatural. Although the poem is simply structured to reference the structure of nature and how it is a motif for romance, the speaker is still frustrated that his love isn't returned when he sees all the bonds that exist in nature. This is effective because it evokes Shelley’s idea of the philosophy of love by oversimplifying the things in nature which then allows the reader to facilitate their own ideas about love and how it is a natural thing something which would have been taboo in Shelley’s time as many people back then were heavily involved in religious practices. 

Moreover, in ‘Sonnet 29’ the form relates to a Petrarchan Sonnet with an octave followed by a sestet. The octave usually presents a problem and the sestet provides a solution. However, in this poem the solution arrives in the middle of line 7 having it come earlier in the middle of the line reflects the speaker's impatience to be with her lover. The volta starts from line 6-7 - ‘renew thy presence;as a strong tree should.’ The speaker changes from her overpowering thoughts to her demanding to be physically near him. This line almost contradicts her later lines of her thoughts obscuring her lover from her view, empathising how she believes the solution to this problem would be if he proved the strength of their love and came to be with her as a strong tree, which is usually still growing and developing, would too. Also the caesura within the line highlights how she's struggling to put her feelings into words and her inability to control her thoughts and desires. Elizabeth Barret - Browning’s intention of using a more traditional form of a sonnet may be to subvert from a conventional form to highlight that their love is unconventional but still beautiful. This may displease a Victorian reader as it was not appropriate for Victorian ladies to discuss sexual things. 

Overall, both ‘Love’s Philosophy’ and ‘Sonnet 29 - I think of thee’ illustrate nature as a motif for romantic love and explore the importance of nature in describing this love - possibly to make it easier for their formal audiences to understand as they were opposed to sexual desire. However, Shelley offers more of a professional thought process of love through nature almost making it easier to understand while Barrett-Browning’s opinions is more arbitrary as it is about the quarrel she has between nature and her own solitary feelings.