porphyria's lover

• Porphyria's Lover


  Originally titled Porphyria, the woman's name referenced in the poem. Also links to a disease that caused hallucinations and psychosis.
• The voice in the poem doesn't seem to be wholly grounded in reality and may be considered insane in some respects
• Some critics think Porphyria might link to the color purple, associated with nobility
• The poem starts with a scene-setting section, looking at the weather, which may be a reference to earlier romantic poetry
• Weather in the poem

  • Violent and aggressive, possibly reflecting the speaker's personality and emotional state
• The speaker is struggling emotionally


  Linked to the weather
• Porphyria's entrance


  She glides in, implying elegance and beauty, perhaps the start of the speaker's madness
• Porphyria shuts out the cold and makes a fire


  She may be removing the speaker's unhappiness and bringing him a sense of love
• Porphyria


  • Removes her cloak, shawl, and gloves, suggesting sexual imagery
• Description of Porphyria


  • Her smooth, white shoulder, damp or yellow hair, emphasizing the speaker's obsession with her physicality
• Porphyria calls the speaker


  He refuses to answer, perhaps sulking or trying to make her work for his attention
• Porphyria's actions


  • She makes her shoulder bare, displaces her yellow hair, leans on the speaker and makes him lean on her, taking control and agency
• Porphyria's love for the speaker

  She murmurs how much she loves him, suggesting softness and genuine affection
• Porphyria is too weak to leave her high society position

  The speaker sees her as pathetic or weak for not being able to follow her heart's desire
• The speaker is pale with love for Porphyria


  He is physically impacted by his unrequited love for her
• The speaker's perception of Porphyria's feelings


  He believes she "worships" him, implying a sense of superiority or control over her
• The speaker's decision to kill Porphyria


  He debates what to do, then decides to strangle her, freezing her in the "most perfect moment"
• The speaker's casual tone in describing Porphyria's murder is shocking
• The speaker repeats "mine mine"


  It is very important to the speaker, the voice of this poem
• The woman in the poem


  • She has little power here
  • The speaker feels like he owns her
• Similarity to "My Last Duchess"


  The speaker repeats "my" and almost creates an object out of her
• "Fare perfectly pure and good"


  The speaker sees the woman as an iconic, virginal figure
• What the speaker does

  1. Winds her hair around her throat

  2. Strangles her
• The speaker calls strangling her "a thing to do"
• The speaker debates what he will do, then chooses to murder her
• The speaker describes strangling her in a casual, matter-of-fact tone
• The speaker says "she felt no pain"
• The speaker opens her eyelids and says she is laughing, as if freezing her in a happy moment
• The speaker switches from referring to her "yellow hair" to "tress", indicating the hair's importance was only as a murder weapon
• The speaker's tone changes

  From cold to passionate and burning after the murder
• The speaker's relationship with the woman changes

  He now has complete control and power over her
• The speaker refers to the woman's head in diminutive, girlish language
• The speaker says the woman's "darling one wish" was to be with him, but we never hear her express this
• The story is told entirely from the speaker's perspective, we cannot hear the woman's voice
• The poem has a rhyme scheme of a-b-e-a-b-b and is structured in couplets, which may reveal the speaker's madness