GCSE poem analysis: Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning.
By portraying the sexual affair between Porphyria and her lover as normal, Browning makes the reader consider the relationship between sex and violence. In fact, his behavior is not normal, forcing the reader to evaluate the disturbing nature of the speaker’s madness, an insecure madness that the speaker conceals beneath his apparently calm behavior and rational manner.Robert Brown’s “Porphyria’s Lover” is very misunderstood in its meaning. The speaker is seen as a madman, when really, he is a man faced with a task that he must grant unto his love. Brown sets up the play as gloomy when he writes that a storm if fast approaching and the wind is blowing so hard that the trees are bending.Porphyria’s Lover Analysis Lines 1-4. The rain set early in tonight, The sullen wind was soon awake, It tore the elm-tops down for spite, and did its worst to vex the lake: The opening four lines provide the setting and the tone. It was evening, and the rain began to fall.
Porphyria's love: she guessed not how. Her darling one wish would be heard. And thus we sit together now, And all night long we have not stirred, And yet God has not said a word! More About this Poem.Porphyria's Lover, by Robert Browning, is a Victorian dramatic monologue. There are many poetic devices and techniques which allow the reader to gain awareness of the unnamed narrator and help to illustrate themes of obsession and mental illness, shown by the word choice in describing the events of the poem.
Porphyria’s lover is one of the most dramatic monologues written by a Victorian poet. Many tried to grasp new concepts of sensuality and brutality but it was Browning who captured these themes perfectly.
