I was interested to read the poetry of a husband and wife pair. It seems as though there could have been great competition between the two Brownings. However, I feel that both of them found their own niche.
Though Robert Browning wrote mostly about the past, "Porphyria's Lover" was written in the present. In this poem, Browning describes two lovers. It begins with the entrance of Porphyria into a cottage, while outside it continues storming. It seems, at first, that the narrator is troubled. He doesn't know where Porphria has been and, perhaps, doubts her loyalty to him. These feelings can be seen in the following lines:
And, last, she sat down by my side/ And called me. When no voice replied,/ She put my arm
about her waist,/ And made her smooth white shoulder bare,/ And all her yellow hair
displaced,/ And, stooping, made my cheek lie there...
However, throughout lines 20-34 we can see Porphyria embracing her lover and his feelings change. He looks into her eyes and believes that her love is true and that Porphyria is his:
Porphyria worshipped me; surprise/ Made my heart swell, and still it grew
The narrator then realizes that the only way to keep this blissful permanence is to strangle Porphyria:
In one yellow string I wound/ Three times her little throat around,/ And strangled her./ No
pain felt she;
I think this is the narrator's way of freezing time. He realizes that he does love Porphyria and she obviously worships him, and he wants to perserve this very moment. She is a beautiful woman and as time goes on she may not always be faithful or may not always love him.
The narrator then proceeds to lie next to Porphyria all night long and says that they do not stir and that "God has not said a word!" I feel as though he is embracing this "frozen time" by absorbing Porphyria's love. I also think he is qualifying his actions when he says that God has not condemned him for killing his lover and that she felt no pain.
This notion of freezing bliss strongly parallels Keats's "Grecian Urn". On the old urn a scene appears of two young lovers frozen in time. They are frozen in the best part of love: the chase. The two will never have to experience the trials of worldly love. This is the feeling the narrator in "Porphyria's Lover" wants to capture. He wants to capture the wonderful feelings he gets from Porphyria. He wants to always be able to experience the love he feels the night he strangles his beautiful lover.
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8 comments:
I must admit that your understanding of this couple's was unique. I enjoyed the writer's display of emotions and insecurity. These are characteristics live in all of us and make us extremely vulnerable when it concerns the person that we love. I find it amazing that this couple was able to survive independently as writers and remain balanced as lover. What a wonderful way to include others in your love story than through a language of love, poetry.
Kelly,
Good close reading and analysis of "Porphyria's Lover." I especially like the way you connect the theme of the frozen moment in this poem with the two lovers on Keats's urn! These sorts of connections across texts indicate that you are engaging with the readings.
Kelly,
Believe it or not...Dr. Glance stole my post! I was going to say something very similar. I even had your quote lined up and everything. Well, there is no sense in letting it go to waste- you wrote "This notion of freezing bliss strongly parallels Keats's "Grecian Urn". What a great connection to make. I really have been blown away by the depth of comprehension and connections that everyone has been making.
-kyle
This was to me one of the more disturbing pieces of poetry I've read. I thought it interesting that you associated most with Browning in his desire to preserve his romance with Porphyria. You noted that Browning wrote mostly about the past, but I thought you could tie his writing style in more with the actual meaning of the poem.
I liked your analysis of "Porphyria's Lover." I liked the way you described him killing his lover as a way of freezing time. He loved her so much and thought that she might not feel like that forever, so the only way to keep that feeling forever was to kill her in that moment. I think after I read that poem I had to sit there for a moment and really take it all in. It was a moving yet disturbing poem for me. Great post!
Kelly,
I like reading your blog. I thought it was interesting how you described the justification of killing Prophria as a way of "freezing time". I thought this poem was creepy and "out there" I wonder how anyone could come up with something so crazy.
Isnt it a weird thought that in order to preserve love you strangle your lover? Strangely though that is what happens in this poem! Great post as usual kelly!
Great post on a great poem! I too that it was interesting that the speaker froze time with his lover by killing her. Its an interesting way to keep this love forever. This idea of his made me seriously question his sanity.
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