Poet remembered

The 200th anniversary of well-known poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning will be celebrated at Ledbury Library next month.

Expert poetry performers John Burns and Brenda Read-Brown will give a reading of her works at the library, on March 6, at 5.30pm.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who lived in Hope End, near Ledbury, is best-known for her work ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese 43: How Do I Love Thee?’ a poem which is often read during wedding services.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin, by Elizabeth’s husband, Robert Browning, will also be read.

The pair wrote about a wide range of topics, from social injustice and aristocratic murder to love and rat-catching.

Brenda Read-Brown, Herefordshire Council’s Reader and Literature Development Officer, said: “We will be reading a selection of poems which should inspire, excite and delight, transporting the audience back to Victorian times.”

Tickets for the one hour event are free but spaces are limited. Light refreshments will also be served. For more details contact (01432) 260646.

TSonnets from the Portuguese 43:
How Do I Love Thee?
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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 everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
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.