Lyric Poem · Love

Sonnet 09 - Can it be right to give what I can give?

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Reading room

1Can it be right to give what I can give?

2To let thee sit beneath the fall of tears

3As salt as mine, and hear the sighing years

4Re-sighing on my lips renunciative

5Through those infrequent smiles which fail to live

6For all thy adjurations? O my fears,

7That this can scarce be right! We are not peers,

8So to be lovers; and I own, and grieve,

9That givers of such gifts as mine are, must

10Be counted with the ungenerous. Out, alas!

11I will not soil thy purple with my dust,

12Nor breathe my poison on thy Venice-glass,

13Nor give thee any love—which were unjust.

14Beloved, I only love thee! let it pass.

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“Sonnet 09 - Can it be right to give what I can give?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-09-can-it-be-right-to-give-what-i-can-give

Quick facts

Poem: Sonnet 09 - Can it be right to give what I can give?
Poet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Length: 14 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Love, Sad

Craft notes

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Shape: 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
Line length: Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).

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Author record: Elizabeth Barrett Browning1806–1861
Source record: PoetryDBSonnet 09 - Can it be right to give what I can give? by elizabeth-barrett-browning, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision: Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record: Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint: SHA-256 d4c2b25ce867de24…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Love Sad

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