In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “Sonnet 13” from Sonnets from the Portuguese, the speaker responds to her suitor’s urging to write her feelings for him in a poem, but she does not believe she is yet ready to delve into her emotion on that level.
First Quatrain: “And wilt thou have me fashion into speech”
The speaker inquires of her beloved whether she should “fashion into speech” how she feels about him. She is not yet ready to commit to language the feelings that are motivating her. Quite likely, she feels that too much outward verbal expression may dampen those exquisite feelings.
If she committed her words to paper, they would be like a “torch” that would “cast light on each” of their faces, but only if the wind did not first blow out that fire. She feels she needs to protect her growing emotion from outside forces; thus, she begins with her question, for she is not certain that her remaining quiet is truly the correct procedure.
Second Quatrain: “I drop at thy feet. I cannot teach”
With a dramatic flourish, she claims that she “drop[s] at [his] feet,” because she cannot steady herself sometimes before his presence. She is still too excited by the prospects of love that she cannot calm herself enough to write anything coherent about how she feels.
This sonnet seems to imply that he has asked her for a poem regarding how she feels about him, but she feel that her love is too deep within her heart that she cannot express its shape and importance; she cannot give it any imagery at this point for it is “hid in me out of reach.” She will have to wait until she can find some measure of tranquility, before she attempts to “fashion into speech” her feelings.
First Tercet: “Nay, let the silence of my womanhood”
Thus, she concludes that “the silence of [her] womanhood” will have to convince him of her deep love for him. She reveals that she still remains somewhat aloof from the suitor, stating that she remains “unwon.” And even though she has been “wooed,” she still has to keep a part of the self hidden for her own personal safety. She must remain anchored in her own self.
Second Tercet: “And rend the garment of my life, in brief”
Earlier sonnets have revealed the level of pain and sorrow the speaker has suffered in her life, and she still suffers. Therefore, she again discloses that if she prematurely attempts to put all of her emotion into a poem, she might only “convey [her heart’s] grief.”
She fears the prospect that “a most dauntless, voiceless fortitude” might destroy the momentum with which she is moving toward her complete acceptance of the new relationship with her belovèd.
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