Attempt a critical appreciation of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's 'When Our Two Souls'.

This is one of Browning's famous love sonnets that
celebrates and extols the love that the speaker has with her beloved. The poem is built
around a central image of the two souls of the speaker and her beloved standing together
and close, "erect and strong," by themselves in the world and enjoying perfect unity on
every level. This union is so perfect that the speaker says that if they desired to
"mount higher" then the angels would spoil their union by dropping a "golden orb of
perfect song / Into our deep, dear silence." Therefore, to avoid this disruption, the
speaker tells her beloved that they should stay on
earth:

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--where the
unfit,

Contrarious moods of men recoil
away

And isolate pure spirits, and
permit

A place to stand and love in for a
day,

With darkness and the death-hour rounding
it.

So, the poem ends with a
recognition of how imperfect is. However, it is this very imperfection that makes it
such an excellent place for the lovers to stay together, precisely because the
"contrarious moods of men" automatically recoil from "pure spirits," isolating them
together, and allowing them to be united, albeit temporarily, as the lovers are always
reminded by the darkness and the threat of death.

This poem
therefore seems to be a celebration of the love that we can enjoy here on earth, and
whilst recognising that it can only be temporary, the poem acknowledges that there is a
deep and profound joy to be had in making the most of such a love
now.