Great Regulars: Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "Sonnet 28"

from Sonnets from the Portuguese dramatizes the speaker's simple act of taking a bundle of love letters, loosening the string that holds them, and then reporting hints from each letter. Each one on which she chooses to report reveals a step in the growing closeness of the two lovers from friendship to soul-mates.

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Barrett Browning's Sonnet 28

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He compares the water flung against the windows to the spitting of "a tame cat/Turned savage."

So in sunny, tranquil weather, the sea does seem to be a friend, but during a storm, it turns wild and rages dangerously. The inmate of the house "just sit tight" as the storm attacks everything in its path.

The speaker employs a military metaphor of a plane that "dives/And strafes."

from Linda Sue Grimes: Suite101.com: Heaney's Storm on the Island

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