Sonnets from the Portuguese, written around 1845 to 1846 and first published in 1850, is a collection of 44 love sonnets written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The collection was praised and widely read during the poet's lifetime and is still popular today. Even though the title suggests the poems were translated from Portuguese, they are entirely original works by Browning. The first line of Sonnet 43 is one of the most well-known lines in English poetry: "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways."

Title

Barrett Browning was not sure if she should publish her poems because she thought they were too personal. Her husband, Robert Browning, believed the poems were the best series of English sonnets since Shakespeare's time and encouraged her to share them. To protect their privacy, Barrett decided to publish the poems as if they were translations from another language. At first, she planned to call the collection "Sonnets translated from the Bosnian," but Robert suggested using Portuguese instead. This choice may have been influenced by Barrett's admiration for the Portuguese poet Camões and Robert's nickname for her, "my little Portuguese." The title also connects to a book called Les Lettres Portugaises from 1669.

In popular culture

The first line of Sonnet 43 has been used in many titles and works.

• "Let Me Count the Ways" (Yoko Ono song), a song from the 1980 album Milk and Honey
• "Let Me Count the Ways" (Natural song), a 2002 song
• "Let Me Count the Ways (I Love You)", a 1976 song by The Temptations from the album The Temptations Do the Temptations
• "Let Me Count the Ways", a 1980 song by Tanya Tucker from the album Dreamlovers
• "How Do I Love Thee", a 1984 instrumental by The Shadows from the album Guardian Angel
• "Let Me Count the Ways", a 1984 song by Steve Hackett from the album Till We Have Faces
• "Let Me Count the Ways", a 1996 song by Dave Koz from the album Off the Beaten Path
• "How do I love thee?", a 1990 musical piece by Libby Larsen from Sonnets from the Portuguese

• Let Me Count the Ways, a 1965 book by Peter De Vries
• Let Me Count the Ways, a 1988 novel by Leigh Michaels
• Let Me Count the Ways: Discovering Great Sex Without Intercourse, a 1999 book by Marty Klein
• "Let Me Count the Ways", a 2007 poem by Matthew Byrne, included in The Best American Poetry 2007

• "Let Me Count the Ways", an episode of Knots Landing
• "Let Me Count the Ways", an episode of Cheers
• "Let Me Count the Ways", an episode of The Red Green Show
• "How Do I Love Thee", a fictional gameshow for newlyweds on Married… with Children

The collection also appears in the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, where it is given to Buffy by a romantic interest.