Browning’s poem, “Porphyria’s Lover,” is about one lover not ever wanting to be without Porphyria, and I mean literally. Porphyria comes to visit her lover one stormy night, and never leaves again. She comes into the cottage filled with trust and love—“And, last, she sat down by my side / And called me. When no voice replied, / She put my arm about her waist, / And made her smooth white shoulder bare, / And all her yellow hair displaced, / And, stooping, made my cheek lie there, / And spread, o’er all, her yellow hair, / Murmuring how she loved me.” She came through the storm to see her lover—no amount of bad weather could keep her away. The lovers had a perfect night, and Porphyria’s lover—the narrator—did not want the moment to end. The narrator was surprised at the love of Porphyria and how she worshipped him. “at last I knew / Porphyria worshipped me; surprise / Made my heart swell, and still it grew / While I debated what to do. / That moment she was mine, mine, fair, / Perfectly pure and good.” He did not want to lose that moment! Not then, not ever. In the next few lines, the narrator tells how he strangled Porphyria with her own hair! He tries to convince himself that she didn’t feel any pain—“No pain felt she; / I am quite sure she felt no pain.” He says it twice as if he doesn’t quite believe the first time.
The narrator opens Porphyria’s eyes after death, and fancies that they are laughing, and that her cheeks blush again when he loosens the hair from her neck. He is acting like she is not dead and that everything will remain in the perfect moment forever—“I propped her head up as before, / Only, this time my shoulder bore / Her head, which droops upon it still: / The smiling rosy little head, / So glad it has its utmost will, / That all is scorned at once is fled, / And I, its love, am gained instead!” He has convinced himself that this is what Porphyria wanted—to be dead and be with him. “she guessed not how / Her darling one wish would be heard. / And thus we sit together now, / And all night long we have not stirred, / And yet God has not said a word!” He sat with her all night, content to be with her, and thinking everything is okay.
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6 comments:
I think you re doing a great job at describing the neurotic personality of Porphyria's lover.. I liked how you mentioned that he did not want this moment to be done and literally wanted to keep her close to him. Is that excessive passion or simple craziness? We will never really know what Browning is trying to envision there. The part in which he thinks "everything is okay" is the aberration of the scene! Once again, great job in your post!
I also wrote about Browning's poem, "Porphyria's Lover" and I think you did a great job of analysing the poem. You are so correct in saying that the poem is about one lover not wanting to be literally without Porphyria . I believe this was a monologue of twisted love, murder and madness and the mental state of the speaker is quite disturbing. You have brought this out in your blog on several ocassions, including when you had stated that after Porphyria was strangled her lover sat with her all night, content to be with her, and thinking everything is okay. Great job.
This is one of my favorite poems, because it romantically dark and wicked. I think you give a wonder description of what the writer has written. Though I have never experienced a feeling so deep as to kill someone, I can almost understand why the narrator had.
I am sure this is not up for discussion, but I would like to throw this question out anyway: Why do you think the narrator was so mad about Porphyria?Why was her love so important to kill for?
Lindsay,
Good discussion of Porphyria (the woman and victim) and her lover (the speaker of the poem, and her murderer). You do a good job of quoting and analyzing particular lines, and exploring the psychology of the killer.
I really enjoyed this post! You did a good job describing his emotions. I thought the same thing... after he killed her he tried to defend himself and pretend as if everything is okay. He just kept trying to re-assure himself. I believe the speaker in the poem had a touch of a mental issue!
I did not really understand this poem. Like at first I thought it was about love or an affair. then I find out its about her death and him maybe killing her.
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