This dramatic monologue is told from the perspective of Porphyria’s lover. The setting is the lover’s cottage by a lake where he reveals his morbid secret and the emotional circumstances that surround it. Browning once offered a disclaimer to his writings saying they were “utterances of so many imaginary persons, not mine” (page 660).
Porphyria came to her lover’s cottage this fateful night during a bad storm. Upon entering the cottage, she started a fire to get warm and took off her wet clothes revealing her damp, yellow hair. She sat down beside her lover and called to him, but he did not reply. She bared her shoulder, leaned over, and told him she loved him. She was compromising her morality and giving herself to him, which at the time, was highly improper and provocative behavior. Realizing that Porphyria worshipped him, the lover looked at her contentedly.
"Be sure I looked up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Porphyria worshipped me; surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
While I debated what to do." (pg. 663)
Wanting to hold on to the moment, the lover took a strand of Porphyria’s hair, wrapped it around her throat three times, and strangled her, assuring the reader that she felt no pain. Porphyria’s scandalous behavior at the beginning of the poem now pales in comparison to her lover's actions. He opened Porphyria’s eyes and she "blushed bright beneath my burning kiss." Seemingly unaffected by what he has done, the lover propped Porphyria's body up beside him with her head on his shoulder...
"Her head, which droops upon it still:
The smiling rosy little head,
So glad it has its utmost will,
That all it scorned at once is fled,
And I, its love, am gained instead!
Porphyria had gotten her wish for his love. The lover sat there with her all night, and God did not say a word.
The language of the poem is informal with a rhyme scheme of ABABB, but the message is bold and disturbing. The subject of sexuality was undoubtedly shocking at the time. Then, adding insult to injury (pardon the pun), the reader is taken aback by the nonchalant violence in the poem. The lover does not seem to see anything wrong with what he has done. The reader is left with a startling image. There seems to be no distinction between reason and insanity, but perhaps that is Browning’s point.
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3 comments:
I enjoyed reading your blog on "Porphyria's Lover." I liked how you set it up, because it made your thoughts easy to understand and follow. I agree that Porphyria's behavior was inappropriate, especially for the time period. She was acting very provacatively, and the reader is focusing on how shocking her behavior is until he strangles her. The reader's attention immediately shifts, and I think that was an excellent point to bring up. I also liked how you described it as "nonchalantly violent," and I believe your conclusion was dead on.
Good job!
Brenda,
Very good posting on "Porphyria's Lover"--you do a great job of setting up, examining and speculating on the meaning of Browning's dramatic monologue. i definitely think you are correct that the poet is exploring the madness of his speaker.
I love that you pointed out how Browning felt about his own poetry. You know so many artists have an over-developed sense of self, much like Richard Wagner, who pretty much elevated himself to God-satus, because of his own compositions. Browning, however, did not suffer from an ego crisis like this. From what he says he seems to credit his own creativity to something beyond himself, and this is probably going to make me seem like a bit of a nut-case, but I'm reading a book right now that talks about just that. It talks about creative energy in the universe provided by the creator and in order for us to be more creative all we have to do is allow that energy to flow through us. I'm not sure right now how much I'm buying into it (because I'm only in the first few chapters), but is seems that this may be a concept that Browning would not have totally disagreed with.
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