Volta and shift in tone: Porphyria’s lover Volta and shift in tone: Until line 42, the speaker has a tender tone as he recounts the events of the previous evening. A critic has said the ‘whole perspective is gentle or feminised’. However the speaker is also mad, and the crucial event of the poem throws his previous concern and apparent love and care for Porphyria into a dark and deadly ironic light. Where is the volta (turn of thought of argument)? How do you feel about the poem? Who is the poem about? What is happening?

Famous Victorian poet – this poem shows attitudes towards women and class at this time. He often focused on morbid, twisted and psychological states. Also wrote ‘My Last Duchess’. This is one of the earliest dramatic monologues. Published in the magazine ‘Monthly Repository’ in 1836. The poem was called ‘Porphyria’ in this magazine – ‘Lover’ was added in 163. This is Browning’s way of saying the poem isn’t about a married couple but an affair helps us to understand the reasoning behind the murder. Before 1863 the poem was published alongside another poem called ‘Johannes Agricola in Meditation’ by Browning – printed under the collective title ‘Madhouse Cells’. Robert Browning (1812-1889)

Interpretations of the poem Speaker as a controlling, dominant psychopathic (person with a mental disorder which gives then violent social behaviour) ‘lover’. This is the most popular interpretation. Poem about euthanasia (with Porphyria as a sick woman). Interpretation on ‘Victorian web’: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/rb/porphyria/best1.html Porphyria is also a blood disease but the disease was not called this until long after the poem was written. L22 – ‘Too weak’ L28 – ‘so pale’ L41 – ‘No pain felt she’ L45 – ‘Laughed’ L53 – ‘So glad it has its utmost will’ L57 – ‘one wish’ L60 – ‘God has not said a word’

Form: dramatic monologue Poem in the form of a speech or narrative by an imagined person (not the poet), in which the speaker inadvertently reveals aspects of their character while describing a particular situation or event. The reader analyses clues by reading between the lines and acting like a detective to reveal details about the speaker. There is a gap between what the speaker wants us to know and what the reader can work out. There is a person speaking with a silent listener. In this poem: Speaker is a psychopath or mercy killer. Narrator is unreliable

Structure Iambic tetrameter: Definition: every line has 8 syllables with alternative unstressed and stressed syllables. Used to iambic pentameter so the use of tetrameter is abnormal to reflect the abnormality of the speaker. Lines are shorter than in iambic pentameter (10 syllables) which quickens the pace of reading and gives the poem a breathless, overwhelming quality. Name Porphyria can’t fit into iambic tetrameter – murderer cannot name lover without losing tight control of her. One long verse: Speaker doesn’t stop to think what he’s saying, just giving his explanation. Doesn’t care for his listener just spouts out his thoughts in a stream of consciousness style. Masculine rhyme: Definition: only final syllable of each line rhymes. Poem is about male dominance over women. Very precise rhyme scheme. Tightly controlled rhyme scheme reflects tight control of the speaker. Structure

Personification of weather and pathetic fallacy 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: Establishing the speaker’s mood before Porphyria arrives. Paints the speaker as irrational. Feels the weather is against him.

I listened with heart fit to break. When glided in Porphyria; straight Break from iambic tetrameter 2 stressed syllables together emphasising an important line. Losing control of iambic tetrameter shows how he’s losing control of emotions. Trying to control everything but unable to. ‘Glided’ Supernatural, angelic and surreal movement. Imbalance between speaker and lover. Poetic inversion – varying sentence order to emphasise certain words. Browning wants to emphasise ‘glided’ as it helps to emphasise the irrational feelings of the speaker.

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. Punctuation Emphasises the word ‘last’. Speaker is cross that he’s last in list of things she did when she arrived. Frustrates and angers him. Enjambment Blurts his feelings out Lack of control Uncontrollable outburst from a psychotic man

L20: ‘And spread, o’er all, her yellow hair’ – consuming and dominating him and taking over. He can’t exist without her. L31: ‘I looked up at her eyes’ symbolically, looking up to someone means respect and superiority. Speaker feels Porphyria is too powerful in the relationship. L40: ‘little throat’ and L52: ‘little head’ – infantilises Porphyria and diminishes her importance. L50: ‘Only, this time my shoulder’ – compare to L19 (‘made my cheek lie there’) – order has been reversed as speaker feels this is how it should be – she’s lower and dependent on him. L53: ‘it’ – pronouns changed from ‘she’ to ‘it’ – more sinister and objectifies Porphyria – distances speaker from lover and presents her as his possession.

Context: Victorian attitudes to women Attitudes in Browning’s time were changing. Women’s role as the ‘angel of the house’ who existed to serve and entertain her husband was beginning to be challenged. Women were not given the same education as men but the suffragette movement was growing and the battle for equality was developing. Ultimately, women in Browning’s time didn’t have the same rights as they do today. In 1800s when a woman married she became the legal property of her husband – couldn’t testify in court and couldn’t vote. It was believed that women were incapable of irrational thought. Many female writers published anonymously or under male pseudonyms to boost book sales. Women’s writing wasn’t taken as seriously as that of men. Many men in Victorian England saw their wives / lovers as a reflection of themselves. Porphyria is active and not the typical Victorian woman – she’s beginning to become dominant over the man so he puts her in her place by killing him. Feminists would say that men are weakened by their dependency on the power they have over women and the way in which men are obsessed with their power over their lovers/wives.

When he decides he’s going to kill her ant positive attitude towards her changes. This is a dramatic and deliberate shift to minimise, objectify and infantilise Porphyria. What do you notice about the speaker’s attitude? What does the shift imply? What does this show about the speaker’s feelings towards Porphyria? Highlight the words and phrases which show the speaker’s attitude towards Porphyria.

Critical viewpoints – start bringing in grade 8/9 skills ‘There has been some disagreement as to whether the lover kills Porphyria because he loves or hates her.’ The speaker has a megalomaniac stance towards his lover and he is ‘self-deceiving’. ‘By draining Porphyria of her life, he can assume…control’ Browning presents very well the contrast between a cold outside world and a warm interior. Porphyria can be seen as the passionate outsider penetrating that interior who brings warmth to the immobile dreamer within. The poem is essentially about a man’s ‘pathological love for a socially –superior woman. ‘It is impossible to know the true nature of his relationship to Porphyria. An incestuous relationship has been suggested; Porphyria might be the speaker’s mother or sister. Or a former lover, now betrothed, or even married. Alternative, they may be divided by social class.’

Final ideas Porphyria stems from the Greek word for purple ‘porphyrus’. Purple is a colour linked to royalty. An upper / lower class illicit relationship.