Lyric Poem · Love

Sonnet 16 - And yet, because thou overcomest so

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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1And yet, because thou overcomest so,

2Because thou art more noble and like a king,

3Thou canst prevail against my fears and fling

4Thy purple round me, till my heart shall grow

5Too close against thine heart henceforth to know

6How it shook when alone. Why, conquering

7May prove as lordly and complete a thing

8In lifting upward, as in crushing low!

9And as a vanquished soldier yields his sword

10To one who lifts him from the bloody earth,

11Even so, Beloved, I at last record,

12Here ends my strife. If thou invite me forth,

13I rise above abasement at the word.

14Make thy love larger to enlarge my worth.

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“Sonnet 16 - And yet, because thou overcomest so” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning — quilloak.com/poems/sonnet-16-and-yet-because-thou-overcomest-so

Quick facts

Poem: Sonnet 16 - And yet, because thou overcomest so
Poet: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Length: 14 lines
Form: Lyric Poem
Themes: Love, War & Remembrance

Craft notes

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Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

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 16 - And yet, because thou overcomest so 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 c8faae32062aab48…
Editorial handling: Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.

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Lyric Poem Love War & Remembrance

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