Porphyria’s Lover (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Browning
- First Published: 1836
- Type of Work: Dramatic monologue
- Genres: Poetry, Dramatic monologue
- Subjects: Love or romance, Crime or criminals, Murder or homicide, Death or dying, Wind
The Poem
“Porphyria’s Lover” is a sixty-line poem of irregular iambic tetrameter with an ababb rhyme scheme, a pattern which continues through the poem’s twelve five-line divisions. It is believed to be Robert Browning’s earliest study in abnormal psychology. It is perhaps more accurately termed a soliloquy or an inner monologue than a dramatic monologue, since it identifies no specific auditor. The term “dramatic” more aptly describes many of Browning’s later poems, in which the tension arises from the drama that builds as the speaker unwittingly reveals...
[The entire page is 1521 words long]
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