Who is porphyrias lover

Timing is everything and the fact that it was during this "all in vein" perception that the speaker was debating what to do, is telling. Porphyria worshiped me: surprise Made my heart swell, and still it grew While I debated what to do. It was during that moment of awareness that he spontaneously conceived the manner of her death, which is described as:.

I found A thing to do, and all her hair In one long yellow string I wound Three times her little throat around,. The fact that he just "found" a thing to do attests to the spontaneity of the act, which ended his debate. He had discovered the means to take her life were at hand; it was obviously an answer for which he had been searching. The word "found" also shouts loudly for the fact that her forthcoming death had, not only been under consideration, it was a foregone conclusion with only the means left remaining to be decided upon.

The aftermath corroborates the fact that the taking of Porphyria's life was not done with hate, anger or revenge in mind. The speaker has convinced himself that she felt no pain; it was a rationalization that he must make inasmuch as he so deeply loved the woman he just killed that he could not possibly admit to her having suffered. The tragedy continues to build within the aftermath because following her death by virtue of his deeds he has serious trouble letting go,.

He "warily" opened her eyes, they were beautiful blue eyes, beautiful because he still saw the woman he loved and they were "laughing" because they were content with the events that had just transpired. The happiness concept is reinforced because the "eyes" [are] without stain, which means that within the last look cast upon her murderer, her eyes saw no blame.

Quite notably the "laughing eyes" are revealed before he releases the tress from around her neck, which is a profoundly significant fact. Important because with the final seconds of her life Porphyria recognized her death was in the making and used her last act of will to put a smile on her face.

That can only be because she is pleased about death being on its way. What else could the head of a murder victim be smiling about other than the act of her death being of her own wanting?

We all know of the horror seen and said to be on the faces of victims whose peril is at the hands of an evildoer. Thus the smile is telling because the face of fear is far less likely to accompany one meeting a desired end. Remember Porphyria "worshipped" the speaker. If he were a madman, like most suggest, then why would there be a smile upon her face instead of shock or horror? Within the last few seconds of life, which facial expression would more likely erupt from the spontaneous act of being strangled by someone you worship?

Shock, of course, certainly not a "smiling rosy little head". Then the speaker kisses her cheek again, a kiss that contains all the love a kiss can possibly possess because it is said to be a "burning kiss". This behavior does not portray that of a madman. Not only is the pretty little head smiling, which bespeaks of the final thoughts within Porphyria's mind but the speaker also knows and tells us he knows why the smile when he states,.

The speaker lives in a cottage in the countryside. His lover, a blooming young woman named Porphyria, comes in out of a storm and proceeds to make a fire and bring cheer to the cottage. She embraces the speaker, offering him her bare shoulder. He tells us that he does not speak to her. Instead, he says, she begins to tell him how she has momentarily overcome societal strictures to be with him. He then toys with her corpse, opening the eyes and propping the body up against his side. He sits with her body this way the entire night, the speaker remarking that God has not yet moved to punish him.

Moreover, while the cadence of the poem mimics natural speech, it actually takes the form of highly patterned verse, rhyming ABABB. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Literature Poetry Lit Terms Shakescleare. Download this LitChart! Question about this poem? Ask us. When no voice replied, 16 She put my arm about her waist, 17 And made her smooth white shoulder bare, 18 And all her yellow hair displaced, 19 And, stooping, made my cheek lie there, 20 And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair, 21 Murmuring how she loved me — she 22 Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour, 23 To set its struggling passion free 24 From pride, and vainer ties dissever, 25 And give herself to me for ever.

No pain felt she; 42 I am quite sure she felt no pain. Cite This Page. Porphyria's Lover Full Text. Lines It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed. Everything you need for every book you read. The way the content is organized and presented is seamlessly smooth, innovative, and comprehensive.

As a shut bud that holds a bee, I warily oped her lids: again Laughed the blue eyes without a stain. And I untightened next the tress About her neck; her cheek once more Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss: I propped her head up as before, Only, this time my shoulder bore Her head, which droops upon it still: The smiling rosy little head, So glad it has its utmost will, That all it scorned at once is fled, And I, its love, am gained instead!

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! Dramatic Monologue Robert Browning did not invent the dramatic monologue but he is the most famous user of the form. In fact he really became a household name to the Victorians for his book called Dramatic Monologues which included this and many other poems, each from the perspective of a different character, either invented, drawn from history or from literature.

His 'My Last Duchess' is another well-known example, which, like this poem, slowly reveals a twisted character in his own words. Some of these monologues imagine that the speaker is in conversation with the reader, who never has a chance to reply, and others are more isolated, as though the speaker is talking to himself, to God, or to nobody at all.

Characters The speaker is plainly sociopathic: he is not disturbed by his own actions but observes them as if from a distance, amazed and amused that despite what he has been told, "god has not said a word" and he has not been smitten for his act of murder. Also, as soon as he realises that "she was mine, mine" he says that he "found a thing to do" as if an insignificant idea had suddenly suggested itself to him - but his actions do not seem impulsive.

While he says that Porphyria now has her "utmost will", he plainly delighted in killing her at the moment she belonged to him - at the moment he realises "at last Prophyria worshipped me". Whatever their previous relationship was like, the speaker seems to think that he can stop time and keep things as they are, silent and still "And all night long we have not stirred".