How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
-- Speaker (Line 1)

Importance: This is the opening line of the poem. The speaker begins with the rhetorical question, "how do I love thee?" and announces that she will "count" the ways she loves her partner. This line eventually becomes an ironic opening, as the speaker's attempt to count and collate her love ultimately fails; she cannot logically describe her love because her experience is so strong and intense that it defies rationality. Instead, she moves into abstract and metaphorical language to illustrate the extent of her feeling.

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.
-- Speaker (Lines 2-4)

Importance: The speaker continues by arguing that she loves her partner with entirety of her soul. These lines introduce the religious imagery to the poem that eventually becomes integral to...