Questions and Answers for Porphyria's Lover
Porphyria's Lover
How does Browning use imagery, figurative language, and sound qualities in "Porphyria's Lover"?
You have asked a very broad question concerning the entire length of this rather complex poem. I am going to focus on one section of this poem that gives such a rich and disturbing psychological...
Porphyria's Lover
In "Porphyria's Lover," why does the narrator kill the woman he loves?
Since its first publication in 1836, the popularity of the poem “Porphyria’s Lover” among readers and critics hasn’t waned. It’s written in the form of a dramatic monologue, whose speaker describes...
Porphyria's Lover
What is the narrative structure of "Porphyria's Lover"?
"Porphyria's Lover" has a linear narrative structure. The poet begins by establishing the setting: a cottage on a stormy night, where the first-person narrator is waiting for Porphyria. The...
Porphyria's Lover
What is the theme of "Porphyria's Lover"?
Another theme that develops in this poem is the objectification of women. From the beginning, the speaker reduces Porphyria to her separate (and sexually exciting) body parts: her damp hair, her...
Porphyria's Lover
Describe the characters of Porphyria and her lover in the poem "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning.
“Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue. The poem’s story comes from the mind of the man who waits for Porphyria. The poem belongs to the lover and his perspective. The...
Porphyria's Lover
Why the speaker in the poem"'Porphyria's Lover" kills her?
Browning's "Porphyria's Lover" is as much about power as it is love. He takes a narrative about an illicit affair and does two things with it: makes it beautiful and makes it about power. When...
Porphyria's Lover
What are the characteristics of speaker, the narrator, and Porphyria in "Porphyria's Lover"?
I think you have become slightly confused between the two main characters of this excellent poem. Your question implies that there are three characters, but do not forget that the speaker and the...
Porphyria's Lover
Write the critical appreciation of the poem "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning.
"Porphyria's Lover" was quite subversive for its time (and to an extent, still is) but prose writers of Browning's Victorian England were also dabbling in Gothic literature and horror. This is one...
Porphyria's Lover
How does the mood of the poem change over the course of Browning's Porphyria's Lover?
The mood of the poem seems to shift with the speaker's mood. At first, the poem's mood seems to match his (or hers), but then it breaks from the speaker's mood pretty dramatically. First, he has "a...
Porphyria's Lover
What does the last stanza mean in "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning?
“Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning defies the time in which it was written. The Victorian Age was a very prudish time period; consequently, Browning’s topics were not always concerned proper...
Porphyria's Lover
What has God to do with "Porphyria's Lover"? What is the meaning of the last line, "And yet God has not said a word!"
This is an excellent and intriguing question! Well done for asking it! It is important to realise that Browning in this poem creates an unreliable narrator whose words we clearly come to doubt as...
Porphyria's Lover
Please explain the poem "Porphyria's Lover" stanza by stanza.
In the first five lines it describes the rainy weather outside. The wind picks up as well, and this sets the tone for the poem. The next 10 lines describe her coming inside and warming by the...
Porphyria's Lover
In "Poryphyria's Lover," explain the lines: "to set its struggling passion free..and vanier ties dissever."
What these lines mean is that Porphyria is not able to follow her heart. Instead, she has been following what society says she must do. So she has been unable to set her heart's passion free...
Porphyria's Lover
Do you think the speaker feels guilty about what he has done?
I think the only feeling the narrator really registers is that they feel "Happy and proud" to know that Porphyria loves them (I use the gender-nonspecific "them" since we do not know for certain...
Porphyria's Lover
Discuss Keats's and Robert Browning's use of imagery in their poetry. I am interested in Browning's "Porphyria's...
I'll answer concerning the Browning poems you are interested in, and let another editor compare them to Keats' imagery. In "Porphyria's Lover," Browning is addressing the obsession the outwardly...
Porphyria's Lover
How does "Porphyria's Lover" reflect the prudish "Victorian attitudes" of the time?
Browning has written several dramatic monologues in which the persona is mentally disturbed (My Last Duchess, etc.) This is another one in which the speaker is obviously not of sound mind. During...
Porphyria's Lover
In "Porphyria's Lover", what does the narrator do after killing her and why? What impression do you get of the...
After the narrator killed his lover, he "propped her head up as before,/Only, this time my shoulder bore", and then sits like that, in semblance of a happy couple, happy that she is his...
Porphyria's Lover
What is unusual about the way the narrator tells his story? How does he represent Porphyria's actions and emotions in...
The narrator's presentation of Porphyria's feelings and actions is unusual because he retains the same tone even after he's described the way he's murdered her. It happens so quickly, and he...
Porphyria's Lover
How does Browning use literary and poetic techniques, in "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover" to effectively...
Numerous answers to your question could be given. Far too many for a short-answer format such as this, in fact. I'll give one answer. Browning's use of a first-person speaker in both poems allows...
Porphyria's Lover
In addition to being Porphyria's former lover, how would you characterize the speaker of this poem?
I would characterize the speaker of this poem as an unstable person, someone who is out of touch with reality, and a murderer. The speaker is gratified and surprised to learn that Porphyria...
Porphyria's Lover
Why do you think the narrator in "Porphyria's Lover" does not reply to his lover when she calls him? What does this...
Porphyria's lover awaits her arrival on a rainy night, and he feels as though his heart is "fit to break"; perhaps he fears that she will not come or that she does not love him. It might even be...
Porphyria's Lover
Within the poem "Porphyria's Lover," what are the issues of the day that Browning appears to be addressing in the poem?
This poem is Browning's one effort of which I'm aware that's analogous to Poe's tales. A murder is committed for no reason (not that there ever is a valid reason for murder) and it comes at the...
Porphyria's Lover
Does the repetition of "mine" have a purpose do you think?
Yes! The repetition of the word "mine" in "Mine, mine fair" is significant. In repeating the word, the persona reflects backward (to "that moment she was mine") and forward (to "mine fair,/...
Porphyria's Lover
What is the genre of Porphyria's lover?
Robert Browning’s poem, “Porphyria’s Lover,” is considered a classic example of the dramatic monologue. It has a well defined speaker who cannot be identified with the poet. It is a pure monologue,...
Porphyria's Lover
Who is the dominant person in the poem, "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning?
Robert Browning’s poem “Porphyria’s Lover” written in 1836 embraces the shock value of a murdered lover. Browning’s poem uses a dramatic monologue to tell the story of Porphyria and her lover....
Porphyria's Lover
What is the significance of using the past tense in "Porphyria's Lover"?
This poem has an element of the confessional about it, as the narrator, the lover of Porphyria that features in the title, recounts to us what happened that evening with Porphyria and looks back on...
Porphyria's Lover
Compare and contrast the character of the lover in "The Last Ride Together" and "Porphyria's Lover"?
Both of these poems are dramatic monologues which makes for a good comparison/contrast. The way that they are similar is that both speakers are aware that their love affair is about to end. The...
Porphyria's Lover
How does the writer's use of language, structure and form influence our view point in 'Porphyria's Lover'?
'Power and possession' are certainly crucial to the speaker, the Lover, but in the context of this dramatic monologue probably have less to do with the desires of men in general (and thus with...
Porphyria's Lover
How does the lover in 'Porphyria's Lover' eternalise his love ?
This is one of many excellent narrative poems that Robert Browning produced featuring an unreliable narrator who, perhaps much like the unreliable narrators of Poe's work, is clearly on the edge of...
Porphyria's Lover
How do we discover that the speaker is insane in Robert Browning's poem "Porphyria's Lover"?
Robert Browning's poem "Porphyria's Lover" is written in a genre known as the dramatic monologue, in which the narrator of the poem seems to be speaking to himself or an unknown reader or audience,...
Porphyria's Lover
What happens in "Porphyeria's Lover" by Robert Browning? How did you react to these events?
In "Porphyria's Lover," Browning addresses the obsession the outwardly polite and prudish Victorian society had with sensational stories of horror and depravity. The themes of sex and violence and...
Porphyria's Lover
What is the characterization like in "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning?
This poem is one of Browning's great dramatic monologue. The dramatic monologue is a specific type of poem in which the speaker reveals to an implied audience some relevant piece of information. In...
Porphyria's Lover
What role does fixation play in "Porphyria's Lover," by Robert Browning?
"Porphyria's Lover" is a narrative poem by Robert Browning. It first appeared in print in 1836. On a stormy night, the narrator's lover, named Porphyria, "glides in" to his house and makes "all...
Porphyria's Lover
I am writing an essay on ballad poetry and I am struggling on what to write for "Porphyria's Lover." Does anyone know...
Well, if you're focusing on ballads, that's a specific form and tradition of writing, so one of the easiest approaches is to look at how the poem is an example of a ballad and what that means. For...
Porphyria's Lover
How does "Porphyria's Lover" transgress from the "prudish" victorian era?
Porphyria's Lover transgresses and contravenes immensely from the "prudish" Victorian era in that it broke with every canon of spirituality, aesthetics, and social norm accepted at the time. The...
Porphyria's Lover
What is unusual about the way the narrator tells his story? How does he represent Porphyria?
The speaker's telling of these events is unusual because he (or she) casually describes winding Porphyria's long, blonde hair around Porphyria's throat "three times" and strangling her. The speaker...
Porphyria's Lover
How do "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" appeal to our senses?
Browning appeals to the reader's senses in these two poems the same way poets usually appeal to a reader's senses--through imagery. That's the definition of imagery. In "Porphyria's Lover," for...
Porphyria's Lover
What other dramatic monologue could I compare with "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning?
I would strongly suggest selecting another dramatic monologue by Robert Browning. He certainly is the master of dramatic monologues, and it is clear that the various aspects of "Porphyria's Lover"...
Porphyria's Lover
Attempt a critical appreciation of Robert Browning's 'Prophyria's Lover'.
In order to compose a critical appreciation of this poem, you will need to analyze it in terms of its figurative language, imagery, structure, and central purpose (or theme) as well as any other...
Porphyria's Lover
In "Porphyria's Lover", considering when this poem was written, what risks was Porphyria taking?
There were several risks involved in Porphyria's actions.1. Her reputation. During this time period, having affairs with men was a stain on a young lady's reputation. If she was unmarried,...
Porphyria's Lover
How do you think Browning has used the male perception to represent questions of morality in "Porphyria's Lover"? I...
This is a very interesting issue to consider in relation to this great poem and I think the subject of gender is very important in discussing the full complexities of this poem. However, at the...
Porphyria's Lover
How would one write a critical analysis of Porphyria's Lover for a university level course?
To write about Porphyria's Lover for an advanced undergraduate or graduate course, first you need to choose some salient aspect of the poem, then decide on a critical approach, then do...
Porphyria's Lover
What is the correct pronounciation of Porphyria?
It's "por-fir-ee-aa", though sometimes mispronounced "por-fye-ree-aa". The word derives from the Greek for "purple".
Porphyria's Lover
Why does the form/structure of dramatic monologue help the reader understand what is going on?
Both of these poems are dramatic monologues which means that the poet has created a character which then talks to us directly through the use of first person. This is interesting for the reader as...
Porphyria's Lover
What do "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" reveal about the Victorian era that is worthy of our study?
My initial reaction is to say, morality and sexual represession. In other words, these poems focus the reader on questions of morality and sexuality. In My Last Duchess, the speaker, a duke,...
Porphyria's Lover
What is the context of Robert Browning's "Porphyria’s Lover"?
Browning's poem takes place in a cottage during a storm at night. Porphyria, a beautiful woman with long blond hair, enters the cottage and builds a fire, a symbol of the hot passion she ignites in...