Robert Browning’s “Porpyria’s Lover” reminded me of being on an emotional roller coaster of love. I found the poem to be very interesting as if a jealous love scene was taking place right in front of my eyes. The poem starts off calmly as love enters one’s life, as Porphria comes home. The vivid words used in the play painted a picture in my head of what was going on as Browning was imagining this as he put it on paper.
“She shut the cold out and the storm,
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up and all the cottage warm;” (Line 7-9)
The above cited lines even bring to my imagination the feelings that you have when a new love enters the room. It is like everything else that is wrong at the moment fades away. You even feel safe with your new love as if the troubles of the past cannot harm you at that instance. By Browning referencing a feeling of warmth it is easy to understand the shift in mood that is currently taking place.
As the poem continues however it seems as if the mood shifts again and tension fills the air between the two lovers. Like reading a romance novel the next events take place very quickly. Porphyria’s lover rejects her longing for his companionship and his jealousy is revealed as he continuously refers to her possessively. I find this to be a tragedy because she tries to show him her love yet that is not enough. He wants to posses her in all aspects. He even stated that he knew that she worshipped him. But the only way to make her his and only his was to kill her and have her as his puppet.
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Simone,
ReplyDeleteGood focus on this poem, and good emphasis on its emotional twists and turns. You start well with the quotation and analysis of an early passage in the poem. You switch at the end to mere paraphrase and plot summary, though, rather than analysis of a specific passage. That switch makes your post less successful.
This poem was a favorite of mine as well and I too think it is fascinating the way it shifts from one loving scene to a scene of horror and death. Browning turns the simplest gestures into something of the unimaginable and I like that about him. Makes you wonder if he could have written any great novels like Steven King. Good focus on shifting in the poem.
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