PORPHYRIA’S LOVER

by Robert Browning

Presented by: Aroob Fatima &

Rubaiqa Bibi
 Outline:
• Introduction of the writer
• Writing style
• Significance of title
• Critical analysis of the poem
• Summary of the poem
• Themes
• Symbols
• Conclusion
Robert Browning
• Robert Browning was born on May 7, 1812, in Camberwell, England.  
• His mother was an accomplished pianist and a devout evangelical
Christian.
• His father, who worked as a bank clerk, was also an artist, scholar,
antiquarian, and collector of books and pictures.
•  A bright and anxious student, Browning learned Latin, Greek, and
French by the time he was fourteen.
• In 1828, Browning enrolled at the University of London.
• Died in 1889, December 12, in his sons house.
 Writing style

• Famous for dramatic monolog

• It is a form of speech addressed to a silent listener
• Browning's poems in which this underlying concept
recurs can be grouped in three categories of subject
matter: art, love, and religion.
• He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humor,
social commentary, historical settings and challenging
vocabulary and syntax
 First published work

• In 1833, Browning anonymously published his first major published

work, Pauline, and in 1840 he published Sordello, which was widely
regarded as a failure.
• He also tried his hand at drama, but his plays, including Strafford, which
ran for five nights in 1837
• Due to the fact that Browning's subjects were frequently unclear and out
of the comprehension and sympathies of the vast majority of readers, as
well as due to the treatment of theme that was sometime rough, he was
not considered a great poet at first.
Critical analysis

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.
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
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,
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,
Murmuring how she loved me — she
Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour,
To set its struggling passion free
From pride, and vainer ties dissever,
And give herself to me for ever.
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.
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.
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,
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
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
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'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!
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!
 Summary:

• One of the earliest and most shocking of Browning’s dramatic monologues.

• Speaker lives in a cottage in the countryside.
• Porphyria comes in out of a storm and proceeds to make a fire and bring cheer to the cottage.
• Then leans against the narrator, professing quietly her love and how she has momentarily overcome
societal strictures to be with him.
• He realizes that she “worship” him at this instant and wanting to preserve the moment, strangles her to
death with it.
• He toys with her corpse, opening the eyes and propping the body up against his side.
• He sits with her body this way the entire night remarking that God has not yet moved to punish him.
 Themes:

• Love
Both the lovers want to preserve the moment of pure and stigma-free love for ever. Out of
insanity the lover strangles her beloved, Porphyria to death thematically suggests the
universalizing and dominating passion of love.
• Sin
Murder is a sin by any means. The lover commits cold-blooded crime by performing the
murderous design. Also vanity that the beloved harbors so long in her mind is a sin.
Insecurity and obsession
Speaker's insecurity about his social class His obsessive love for porphyria lead him strangle
her to death
• Power and Dominance
The "love" between the speaker and Porphyria turns pretty quickly into a power play. Porphyria
seems to be the one who's in control at the beginning of the poem, then the speaker completely
reverses things. He seems to want to possess Porphyria, so he reduces her to an object
 Themes:

He seems to want to possess Porphyria, so he reduces her to an object

• Madness
Browning offers more and more clues to show that the speaker is not merely delusional or
confused because of his near-broken heart but that he is somehow quite mad
• Sexuality and mortality
Speaker believes God approves of his decision to murder Porphyria, since doing so
forever keeps her “perfectly pure and good.”
a twisted interpretation of morality
• Society and class
 Literary devices:

• Personification
The sullen wind was soon awake,
• Pathetic Fallacy
The "love" between the speaker and Porphyria turns pretty quickly into a power play.
Porphyria seems to be the one who's in control at the beginning of the poem, then the
speaker completely reverses things. He seems to want to possess Porphyria, so he
reduces her to an object
• Enjambment
No pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain.
 
 Rhyming scheme and meter:

• Unusual rhyme scheme

•  ABABB
• Written in iambic tetrameter
• Four poetic feet in each line, each with an
unstressed-stressed syllable pattern.
 Conclusion

• Dramatic monologue
• Poet making people realize condition of society
• Pointing out mentality of men of the era
•  Women being objectified
THANK YOU!