Porphyrias Lover Essay
In this poem, the characters are a mystery and not so easy to analyze. There are many analogies and some symbolism stating that the two main characters arent just two lovers meeting together, but its possibly a risky chance theyre taking, a secret, and some of the characters may even be describe as immoral. In other words, one of the characters is possibly a vampire transforming his lover into an immoral human during their meeting theyre having as well. Behind each line, there are a group of words revealing something that the reader would have to study to figure out the true meaning of. In this poem in particular, there are plenty of mysteries and hidden meaning within the texts to keep it excited for the reader.
Porphyrias Lover by Robert Browning is about a secret encounter between two lovers. In the beginning, they are meeting up in the middle of a storm in the cold weather to make love, so theyre love is probably a secret. She throws herself at her lover and begins to tell him how much she loves him. The poem says nothing about the man saying anything back, so he might not love her as much as she loves him. These few lines could be saying that the writer is a vampire. History has it that vampires have something about them that makes mortals fall in love with them. After he strangles she woman, she was still bushing and her eyes were still clear blue. This suggests that she isnt really dead. There are no lines in this poem specifically stating that she has become a vampire, but the reader would assume that the writer has turned her into a vampire in the process of making love. The speaker doesnt reveal whether the couple planned on transforming her into a vampire or if the man was keeping a secret form her. But when he strangles her with her hair, hes sure she feels no pain and then they continue spending the rest of the night together.
Browning is best known for being a Victorian style poet. His poems often involve violence within sexual activity, which would have been a big interest to Victorian readers during the time that this poem was published because the Victorian readers were much more accustomed to pieces about immoral things. Most all of his poems are describing the same girl; white skin, golden hair, blue eyes, and sitting motionless though the night. This description of a woman is also mentioned in My Last Duchess and The Laboratory (Ross, Catherine). After his wife, Elizabeth, died in 1861, he wrote his first murder poem. We arent sure what she looked like, but there is clearly a connection between the death of his wife and his new style of poetry he developed after the incident. Browning is said by some psychologist to have a psychological maniac disorder (Robert Browning). Many of Brownings early poems were part of what Isobel Armstrong would call a symatic attempt to examine many kinds of neurotic or insane behavior, and in particular the pathology of sexual feeling. Paired with a companion poem, Johannes Agricola under the title Madhouse Cells, Porphyrias Lover is one of the earliest products of this project (Ross, Catherine). But some would say the same things about Emily Dickenson as well, just judging by her writing.
In the poem, the reader is referring to Porphyria as the woman. Porphyria is a blood disease that makes a person crave iron and can also cause insomnia and and increased sex drive (The Science of Halloween). Victims of the diseases, Dr. Dolphin suggested in a talk at the American Association for the advancement of Science, could have inspired the mythology of werewolves, which were humans who changed into wolves, and vampires, which were corpses that left their graves at night to suck the blood of humans (Philip M. Boffey). All of these symptoms describe a vampire right down to the T. Its easy to say that this is where people developed the idea of vampires. This doesnt exactly explain why her name is Porphyria, but it could be because the man is struggling with porphyria, which makes Porphyria his new addiction. When the poem was first published, it wasnt called Porphyrias Lover, but just Porphyria (Maxwell, Catherine).
I chose this poem because it has an abundant amount of mystery behind it and it makes the reader have to search for clues, history, and some symbolism to understand it. It can be viewed in several different ways, depending on the reader. Some could involve more violence and some could be more romantic. But judging but Browning poems Ive read in the past, it involves plenty of violence but possibly some romance too. Since the Twilight series and some of the poems weve read, I find vampire stories and the history of how vampires came about pretty interesting. I feel like this would be an interesting poem for many people my age (high school students, mostly) and that the mystery behind it requires enough thinking and creativity that it could be a good high school English assignment as well.
Works cited
Maxwell, Catherine. "Browning's Porphyria's Lover."The Explicator
52.1(1993):27-30.Research Library,ProQuest. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.
PHILIP M. BOFFEY, Special to the New York Times. "RARE DISEASE PROPOSED
AS CAUSE FOR 'VAMPIRES'." New York Times 31 May 1985: 15. Academic
Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.
Ross, Catherine. "Browning's PORPHYRIA'S LOVER." Explicator 60.2 (2002): 68.
MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.
"Robert Browning." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition (2010): 1.
MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 23 Nov. 2010.
"The science of Hallowe'en." Economist 349.8092 (1998): 89. Academic Search
Elite. EBSCO. Web. 22 Nov. 2010.
Already have an account? Log In Now
4006