porphyria's lover

• "the rain set early in to-night"

  • pathetic fallacy used from the start to establish a dark and disturbed tone, which is reflective of a disturbed speaker
• "the sullen wind was soon awake"

  • the wind is personified as "sullen" showing how even nature is miserable here
  • relates to the natural link between romance and nature as seen in literature of the time
  • personification of wind as "sullen" creates a sense of brooding, ominous atmosphere
  • suggests moodiness or discontent in natural world that mirrors the speaker's own dark emotions
  • "sullen wind" could also be read as a reflection of the speaker's jealous, possessive feelings towards porphyria, foreshadowing the ending and hinting at the destructive force that underlies their relationship
• title: "porphyria's lover"

  • could be linked with disease porphyria - some symptoms include: hallucinations and paranoia
  • however, the disease was not named until around 50 years after the poem was written
  • alternatively, the word "porphyria" can be linked with the greek word porphura which means purple
  • purple is associated with royalty which could hint at her noble connections
• structure:

  • not broken up into individual stanzas: continuous narrative throughout
  • turning point at about halfway could be seen as splitting the poem into a two-part structure; this is the point where a role reversal is shown as the speaker who was passive becomes active and vice versa for porphyria
  • only one instance where pronoun "we" is used; otherwise just "she" and "her" which displays intense disconnect between the couple and only changes right at the end when they "sit together" when she's dead
• rhyme scheme & base meter:

  • asymmetry of ababb rhyme scheme implies the speaker has a disordered mind
  • iambic tetrameter; rhythmical
• polysyndeton:

  • used throughout which suggests the events are happening one after the other & the way in which they unfold is inevitable
• enjambment & caesura:

  • hints at speaker's disordered mind as his thoughts spill over into the following lines and often stop in the middle of them
• "it tore the elm-tops down for spite"

  • description of storm; personification of wind - hostile as it does all it can to "vex the lake"
  • active verb "tore" is violent and furthers the effect of the pathetic fallacy
  • suggestion that nature is at conflict with both itself and humans; creates an unhappy implication for the state of the relationship
• "and did its worst to vex the lake"

  • pathetic fallacy shows the speaker's angry state of mind
• "i listened with heart fit to break"

  • shows how the narrator is emotionally at breaking point; hints at his mental instability
• "when glided in porphyria; straight"

  • supernatural connotations of "glided" imply the speaker doesn't view porphyria as a human being - angelic & ethereal which juxtaposes the storm outside
  • suggests theme of idolisation
  • this line comes immediately after "heart fit to break" which implies she is the one causing the heartbreak
  • short sentence & change of normal word order (anastrophe) gives her more prominence
  • extra syllable disrupts iambic tetrameter which shows how she impacts his life and changes his emotion
• "she shut the cold out and the storm"

  • porphyria has an almost magically calming effect
  • her actions contrast with the miserable weather
  • she seems to be a powerful, positive force in the speaker's life
  • she represents good while he represents evil
  • she has ability to distract him which could imply he sees the storm in a much worse way than it actually is due to his psychological state
• "and kneeled and made the cheerless grate"

  • "cheerless grate" could be metaphor for speaker's heart and the emptiness he feels towards his life or his lover
• "blaze up, and all the cottage warm"

  • she's given the speaker warmth
  • the cottage is been given warmth both literally and metaphorically
• "which done, she rose, and from her form"
• "withdrew the dripping clock and shawl"

  • she is exposing herself; could link to exposing truth and juxtaposes secrecy theme and lack of trust in poem
  • she takes cares of his comfort (by making cottage warm) before her own (taking off shawl)
• "and laid her soiled gloves by, untied her hat and let the damp hair fall"

  • "let the damp hair fall" connotes relaxation and has a sexual element about it as if she is indicating her sexual availability to him; victorian women were meant to cover or pin up their hair - seen as immodest & sinful here (women who flaunted their female sexuality seen as 'fallen' women)
  • idea that she is in control and is familiar with the place
  • letting down her hair symbolises her opening herself up to speaker; act of untying hair also foreshadows her death
• "and, last, she sat down by my side and called me."

  • caesura marks point at which she tries to communicate with him
  • first clue that something isn't quite right
  • verb "called" juxtaposes with the fact she is "sat down by [his] side" as it suggests distance - perhaps it is an emotional distance rather than physical
• "when no voice replied, she put my arm about her waist"

  • she is the active one initially; is browning suggesting the only way to deal with a non-passive woman is to kill her?"
  • "no voice replied" implies he has become dissociated and is looking at the scene from the outside
  • he is passive and allows her to manipulate his body
  • his silence foreshadows his inability to deal with her as a fellow person
  • speaker doesn't take responsibility for his lack of reply, showing he doesn't take responsibility for his actions
• "and made her smooth white shoulder bare"

  • she becomes overtly sexual
  • "smooth white" has angelic connotations, highlighting her innocence and vulnerability - creates sense of foreboding
  • "smooth white" could also be interpreted as ghost-like, developing supernatural ideas
  • gives an unspoken indication of her sexual availability
• "and all her yellow hair displaced"

  • "yellow" has angelic and warm connotations
  • alternatively, the fact it is "yellow" and not blonde could indicate how he views her as an object not a person
• "and, stooping, made my cheek lie there"

  • repetition of "and" in multiple places emphasises the calm way he's chronologically recounting the events leading up to murder
• "and spread o'er all her yellow hair"

  • repetition of "yellow hair" hints at his fixation and foreshadows the way in which she dies
• "murmuring how she loved me"

  • "murmuring" could suggest a flirtatious tone or that she doesn't actually mean what she says
  • could also imply fear or shyness; ambiguous nature of verb reflects speaker's lack of understanding of porphyria
  • "murmuring" also suggests a kind of intimacy, a softly spoken confession of feeling
  • could also be read as a kind of foreshadowing, a gentle whisper of the violence to come
• "she too weak, for all her heart's endeavour"

  • condemns her
• "to set its struggling passion free"

  • semantic field of violence
• "from pride, and vainer ties dissever"

  • narrator is critical of porphyria's lack of commitment to him; she may be from a higher class than him which could be a difficult situation for her as her family may disapprove of the relationship - could be indicated by royal connotations of her name
  • "vainer ties" could also refer to porphyria potentially having another lover or not wanting to have sex with him
  • reference to vanity could also be because he blames her for her excessive pride for her position
• "and give herself to me for ever"

  • he feels that she is not emotionally strong enough to break away and commit herself to him forever
  • could imply that speaker has desire to play god
• "but passion sometimes would prevail"

  • plosive alliteration implies there is danger in these feelings
  • her love for him has got the better of her
• "nor could to-night's gay feast restrain"

  • she's left some kind of party to see him; could show how much she wants to see him, but also hints that he isn't part of her social activities
  • "feast" suggests she is upper class
  • "feast" references the theme of consumption which is often used in relation to possessive men; women are viewed as objects to consume
• "a sudden thought of one so pale"

  • she left the party to be with him as she can't bear to see him suffering
  • "pale" suggests love is making him sick and weak
• "for love of her, and all in vain"

  • her return home to her lover is "all in vain" and futile
• "so, she was come through wind and rain"

  • wind and rain previously been personified as violent so for her to not give in to them shows she is not like typical victorian women
• "be sure i looked up at her eyes"

  • speaker is now active; signals shift in balance of passivity and activity between porphyria and speaker
• "happy and proud"

  • ambiguous as to what these adjectives are describing
  • is he referring to the way her eyes look? or the way he is looking at her?
  • change in stress and interruption of rhythm; indicates turning point
  • change to active speaker suggests he is the one who is "happy and proud"
• "at last i knew porphyria worshipped me"

  • he wants to be loved by her and have power over her
  • epiphany shown through change in beat which also shows the change to psychotic behaviour
  • he realises the power he has over her; HE was the reason she left the "feast" - this seals her fate
  • "worshipped" implies power imbalance and shows speaker's hubris
• "surprise made my heart swell"

  • metaphor shows intensity of speaker's desire
  • at start of poem, his heart was "fit to break" but now it is "[swelling]"; lures reader into thinking there will be a happy ending where love conquers all
• "and still it grew while i debated what to do"

  • he CHOOSES to kill her - had other options
  • shows the murder was very calculated
• "that moment she was mine, mine, fair, perfectly pure and good"

  • repetition of "mine" emphasises speaker's possessive nature; disturbing and suspicious as it emphasises how he wants to possess her - objectification
  • "perfectly pure"; plosive alliteration foreshadows the act of violence about to be committed
  • it is implicitly just for "that moment"
• "i found a thing to do"

  • belittles the notion of what he is going to do