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...

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" 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...

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” 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...

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...

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" 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...

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” 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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,/...

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,...

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....

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...

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...

'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...

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...

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,...

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...

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" 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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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"...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

It's "por-fir-ee-aa", though sometimes mispronounced "por-fye-ree-aa". The word derives from the Greek for "purple".

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...

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,...

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...