Porphyria's Lover
Robert Browning
The rain
set early in to-night,
The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm-tops down for spite,
And did its worst to
vex the lake:
I listened with heart fit to break.
5
When glided in
Porphyria; straight
She shut the cold out
and the storm,
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up, and all the
cottage warm;
Which done, she rose, and from her form
10
Withdrew the dripping
cloak and shawl,
And laid her soiled
gloves by, untied
Her hat and let the damp hair fall,
And, last, she sat
down by my side
And called me. When no voice replied,
15
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,
20
Murmuring how she
loved me-she
Too weak, for all her
heart�s endeavor,
To set its struggling passion free
From pride, and vainer
ties dissever,
And give herself to me forever.
25
But passion sometimes
would prevail,
Nor could to-night�s
gay feast restrain
A sudden thought of one so pale
For love of her, and
all in vain:
So, she was come through wind and rain.
30
Be sure I looked up at
her eyes
Happy and proud; at
last I knew
Porphyria worshiped me; surprise
Made my heart swell,
and still it grew
While I debated what to do.
35
That moment she was
mine, mine, fair,
Perfectly pure and
good: I found
A thing to do, and all her hair
In one long yellow
string I wound
Three times her little throat around,
40
And strangled her. No
pain felt she;
I am quite sure she
felt no pain.
As a shut bud that holds a bee,
I warily oped her
lids: again
Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.
45
And I untightened next
the tress
About her neck; her
cheek once more
Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss;
I propped her head up
as before,
Only, this time my shoulder bore 50
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 unstead!
55
Porphyria�s love:
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!
60
Questions
1.) Why does Porphyria's lover kill Porphyria?
2.) How is this poem ironic?
3.) How does the word "string" in line 39 give significance to the
poem? word "stain" in line 45?
4.) What does line 55 say about the speaker?
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Analysis
The speaker is a Porphyria�s lover who ultimately strangles Porphyria with her own hair. He is crazed by his love for her. This is evident in lines 33, 35-36, and 55. In line 33, the speaker states that, �Porphyria worshiped me.� This phrase is an overstatement because Porphyria never literally worships him. It is a figure of speech to describe how the speaker believes Porphyria feels towards him. Porphyria never fully states that she was in complete adoration of the speaker. He simply assumes that she does on his own. In lines 36-37, �That moment she was mine, mine, fair, perfectly pure and good.� He completely disregards the fact that she is a human and treats her like as a possession of his. Porphyria has turned into a doll whose innocence he wants to admire and preserve forever. In line 55, he describes that all of the things Porphyria has ever feared or hated has now been replaced by the one thing he believes she cherishes above all: his face. He is almost delusional by the thought that she loves him. He seems to be exaggerating her love for him.
In the beginning of the poem, the setting is described as a dark night, which foreshadows the dark event soon to come. After Porphyria enters the cottage, she sits by her lover and reveals her bare shoulder. Because she performs a sexual act scandalous to the time period, her lover automatically assumes position to be domineering. In this way, she has just given him the power to take control of her as he wills. She then proceeds to murmur emptily sweet phrases. He takes literal meaning of how she spoke of her wish to give herself to him forever. He determines that the ultimate sacrifice a person can ever make is to die for another. Since she has given her oral consent for her life to be his to take, he assumes he has the authority to do with her as he likes.
The word �string� in line 39 contributes greatly to lessen the brutality of the lover�s act. Instead of using an imagery like a rope, the speaker uses the word �string� which leads the reader to imagine a delicate knot � a knot that would not cause Porphyria much pain. The word �stain� in line 45 gives the speaker a sense of satisfaction that he has accurately preserved Porphyria�s spirit. She has been molded into what he has always secretly wanted her to be. The stain he refers to is the stain from society, which has forbidden her to be with him. Because he has ended her life, he has severed the tie between society and Porphyria; thus removing the stubborn stain in Porphyria�s eye that would not allow her to fully be with him.
The poem was not set for a particular audience. However, at the end of the poem, Porphyria's lover seems to be challenging God to react to his deed. The last line proves that Porphyria's lover is not completely unconscious of his morals or his actions. He knows that taking Porphyria's life for his own pleasure is not an act to be condoned by God. He was not insane but fully aware of his actions when he strangled
Porphyria.
There is a tone of irony in this poem. Porphyria loves the speaker and truly feels safe with him. However he ultimately betrays her blind trust in him by strangling her in her most vulnerable state: when she is with him. The speaker is a prime example of the tragic flaw in men. Men feel the constant need for control and power, especially over something he knows he cannot. In lines 22-24, Porphyria is in a situation where she has separated herself from an obligation and pride to be with the speaker. She is currently attached to a helpless situation and the speaker knows he is unable to control it [the situation]. Throughout literary history, men have often gone slightly crazed in helpless situations. Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights is one as well as Mr. Wickham in Pride and Prejudice. The speaker confuses his violence as an act of love for Porphyria. He is disillusioned by love for her and belief of her love for him that he confuses reality with sentimentality, ultimately committing the fatal crime of passion.
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