1. Porphyria’s lover
Literature GCSE
Paper 2

2. Class reading of the poem
Class reading of the poem. 2nd reading - in pairs (read six lines each) diagnostic discussion
Where is the volta? How do you feel about the poem? Who? What? Where? When?
Porphyria = a rare disorder of the blood that may cause mental, nervous or skin problems
Vex = annoy
Soiled = dirty, unclean
Dissever = to separate
Oped = opened
Tress = a long lock of hair

3. Getting the narrative clear…
Who? Dramatic monologue spoken by the male lover of Porphyria
What? The speaker without a word of explanation or regret tells of Porphyria’s visit to him and his subsequent murder of her. Then he spends the night alone with the dead body.
Where? In an isolated cottage
When? One dark, stormy night.

4. The poem’s volta and a 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 solicitude (concern) and apparent love and care for Porphyria into a dark and deadly ironic light.

5. About the poet
Robert Browning was the master of dramatic monologues. In this poetic genre the skill is in conveying the innermost thoughts and feelings of the speaker, often when it involves uncovering uncomfortable truths about themselves
Written in 1836
Was published alongside another poem in the same form ‘Johannes Agricola in Meditation; both are about someone wanting total possession of another

6. A02 form and structure Pathetic fallacy and setting
Why a storm? Why an isolated cottage?
Highly controlled structure
Regular unvarying rhyme scheme – units of five lines which rhyme ABABB CDCDD etc . A critic has called this ‘assymetric rhyme’ – why use it?
Why end on a couplet?
Any half-rhyme ? Monosyllabic or polysyllabic?
Enjambment – over a third of lines are run-on lines and without end-stopping. Why? Any specific examples?
Are there any heavy caesuras? What is the effect?

7. There are deliberate ambiguities in this poem AO3
Why is Porphyria unable to fully give herself to him? (barriers? Reasons?)
Why does the speaker kill her?
Anchor your reading of the poem to specific quotations

8. Types of love Transgressive love Forbidden love
Illicit love outside of wedlock
Sensual love

9. How do you understand the final line?
Discuss and share

10. Physical description & sensuality
Her ‘rosy little head’ could be a sexual reference to the hymen
‘Shut bud that holds a bee’ sexual connotations?
Hair descriptions?
Skin descriptions?
Victorian prudery triggered a backlash with heightened interest in the forbidden and sexual fetish/ prostitution
However, sex here appears more natural and acceptable

11. Alternative readings of the poem:
It is impossible to know the true nature of his relationship to Porphyria. 1. An incestuous relationship has been suggested; Porphyria might be the speaker’s mother or sister. 2. Or a former lover, now betrothed, or even married. 3. Alternative, they may be divided by social class. 4. Other sources speculate that the lover might be impotent, disabled, sick or otherwise inadequate and unable to satisfy Porphyria 5. Porphyria is not a woman at all but the disease personified that the speaker is trying to control – Browning has an avid interest in such pathologies and may have been aware of the new disease

12. Critical viewpoints – start bringing in level 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.’