How Do I Love Thee? | Elizabeth Browning | M.C.Q.

About the poet:

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) was one of the most prominent poets of the Victorian era. She started writing poetry at the age of six. Her early poems, compiled and published by her mother form one of the largest extant of juvenilia by any England writer. She married the leading Victorian poet Robert Browning. She was very popular both in England and America during her lifetime.

About the poem:

How Do I Love Thee? was published in 1850 as sonnet 43 in the collection entitled Sonnets from Portuguese. It is a sonnet. It expresses the poetic persona's passionate feelings for her husband Robert Browning.

For the Summary of "How Do I Love Thee?", Please click the below link 'Summary'

>> Summary

How Do I Love Thee?

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.

I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Multiple Choice Question

1. Why does the poet ask a question at the start?

(a) To get an answer from the readers
(b) To give an answer to the readers
(c) To give a poetic effect
(d) None of the above

Ans. (c) To give a poetic effect

2. What kind of love does the poet express in the poem?

(a) Superficial love
(b) Honest love
(c) Sincere love
(d) Passionate love

Ans. (d) Passionate love

3. What does candle light refer to?

(a) Before sunset
(b) After sunset
(c) Night
(d) At dawn

Ans. (c) Night

4. The poet in this line believes in … .

(a) Temporary love
(b) Long term love 
(c) Eternal love
(d) None

Ans. (c) Eternal love

5. The poet loves as freely as …. .

(a) Robert Browning
(b) Barrett Browning
(c) Elizabeth Taylor
(d) Elizabeth Browning

Ans. (d) Elizabeth Browning

6. The poet loves as freely as … .

(a) Men strive for right
(b) Men turn from praise
(c) Passion put to use in old griefs
(d) Her faith in childhood

Ans. (a) Men strive for right

7. How many ways of loving are mentioned in the poem?

(a) 8
(b) 10
(c) 9
(d) 14

Ans. (c) 9

8. What type of poem is 'How Do I love thee'?

(a) Narrative
(b) Sonnet
(c) Lyrical
(d) Allegory

Ans. (b) Sonnet

9. The poet loves as ….. as they turn from praise.

(a) Freely 
(b) Purely
(c) Passionately
(d) Deeply

Ans. (b) Purely

10. I love thee with the …. of all my life.

(a) Smiles, tears, laughter
(b) Love, laughter, lust
(c) Tears, lust, love
(d) Breath, smiles, tears

Ans. (d) Breath, smiles, tears

11. What is the rhyming scheme of the octava?

(a) abab
(b) abba
(c) aabb
(d) abbb

Ans. (b) Abba

12. What is the rhyming scheme of the sestet?

a. abab
b. abba
c. aabb
d. abbb

Ans. (a) abab

13. When can the poet give the best love?

a. When feeling out of sight
b. After death
c. When she puts to use the old griefs
d. When she instills her childhood's faith

Ans. (b) After death