Porphyria's Lover

Porphyria's Lover (1836) is a dramatic monologue by Robert Browning. It begins with Porphyria seeking refuge from a storm in the voice's (her lover's) cottage. She proceeds to light a fire, tell him she loves him and then loses her virginity to him. Porphyria even goes as far as to say she "worhip[s]" him.

The beginning of the poem is much alike the Romantic poetry of the early 19th century; a raging and ever-worsening storm going on whilst someone is in the warmth, initially alone. In Romantic poetry, nature is seen as sublime, however in this poem, both nature and Porphyria are seen as sublime. From the very beginning Porphyria is described as an almost angelic woman. Browning contrasts the negative imagery of the storm with the beauty of Porphyria. Contrasting the "sullen wind" with her "smooth white shoulder" etc.

The voice describes the events that take place in an eerily calm manner, ever so bluntly; "I wound Three times her little throat around, And strangled her." which makes it seem like he does not really think what he is doing is unnatural. However, the ABABB rhythmic scheme is unnatural and also quite intense, so in this sense the rhythmic scheme represents the voice's mental state.

There are many different interpretations that could be seen to explain why the voice decides to strangle Porphyria. The 'storm' outside could symbolise society and its harmful ways; you cannot control what society does. Because of this, her seeking the warmth and calm of his cottage is highly meaningful, it means she is defying society. In a way, her actions are of greater meaning than the words she says, as it is clear she fully trusts and loves him by this.

In lines 15-20 the voice describe how Porphyria lays her shoulder bare for him, which is a common way of comforting someone. However, from lines 50-54, after he has killed her, he describes how he did this with her corpse. This portrays a shift in power dynamics, opening the interpretation that he killed her to regain control in the relationship. The name of the poem backs up this point. It is called Porphyria's Lover; he belongs to her. 

I believe the voice thinks what he did is the right thing, it was an act of love; albeit an unstable and warped way of going about things. Upon having sex, he say she "gave herself to him forever". Losing her virginity to him meant he had a piece of her, a piece he so strongly wanted to keep. On line 57 he says "her darling one wish would be heard", she died belonging to him which is what she wanted; in this sense she was his "for ever."

INSTEAD OF KILLING YOURSELF 

wait until
a year from now
where you say,
“Holy fuck,
I can’t believe I was going to kill myself before I etcetera’d…
before I went skinny dipping in Tennessee,
made my own IPA,
tried out for a game show,
rode a camel drunk,
skydived alone,
learned to waltz with clumsy old people,
photographed electric jellyfish,
built a sailboat from trash,
taught someone how to read,
etc. etc. etc.”

The red washing
down the bathtub
can’t change the color of the sea
at all.

Derrick C. Brown

This is one of my favourite poems. Its not good to analyse in the sense that it doesn't have any other interpretations but I think its beautiful. The final stanza just sets out the belief that although you may be low now, killing yourself won't change anything. I like this poem because it highlights that having strength, even throughout rough times, pays off eventually. You shouldn't do something arguably reckless like kill yourself when you have so many things to look forward to in life.