Sonnets 13 and 21

Sonnet 13 is like figuring out when and how to say I Love You. She is talking of "wilt thou have me fashion into speech The love I bear thee, finding words enough...". This suggests to me, that Robert may have been asking her to show him how much she cared for him. However she uses her silence to express herself. "From myself--me--that I should bring thee proof In words, of love hid in me out of reach. Nay, let the silence of my womanhood Commend my woman-love to thy belief" She is attempting to tell her lover that there are no words to describe and express love for him. It is something that must be felt and understood through"one touch of this heart convey its grief". I don't believe that the grief she is describing is sadness, but grief of the loss of her voice. Sonnet 21 however is an expression of repetition. She wants nothing more than to hear her lover to express to her every moment how much he loves her. She doubts that sometimes in his silence that he may not love her, so wants to always that he loves her. Even in the darkness or silence she wants to know that his love is real. This would be the same silence that was described in Sonnet 13. For Barrett Browning, she stays silent to express her love, but wants a vocal counterpart.