Review of 'Porphyria's Lover'.

The poem begins with some imagery, creating a picture in the reader's head of a dark and gloomy night. We get this from the sentence 'The rain set early in to-night, the sullen wind was soon awake', the words 'rain' and 'sullen' having negative connotations, such as darkness. Browning also personifies the wind, saying that it was 'soon awake', making it seem more dangerous. He continues this as he writes, 'It tore the elm trees down for spite, and did it's worst to vex the lake', accentuating the cruelty of the wind and how dismal it is outside. It can be described as a love poem, as Browning uses rhyming couplets throughout. Instead of using iambic pentameter like most Shakespeare poems, which are widely associated with love, it uses iambic tetrameter, consisting of four iambic feet. This is especially effective at it already creates the idea that it is not an ordinary, typical love story.

When he describes the arrival of Porphyria, he says she glides into the cottage, which gives an element of beauty and makes her seem almost angelic, enforcing a religious aspect in the poem. This continues throughout further description of her; Browning writes, 'Which done, she rose,' which prompts the idea that she is angelic, as she does not just get up, she rises. Browning creates the impression that Porphyria is willing to give herself to the narrator, the man in the poem, in the way he illustrates the removal of her things - 'Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl, and laid her soil'd gloves by, untied her hat and let her damp hair fall.' The use of the words 'withdrew', 'laid', and 'untied', creates the image that she does so gently, lovingly, for him and for him only, with insinuates love more than passion.

Browning also begins to portray how perhaps this woman has a form of dominance over this man, a sense of control - 'She put my arm about her waist, and made her smooth white shoulder bare' - this also reinforces the idea of an angel, as biblical people are often carved out of white stone, into a smooth and beautiful creation, and it gives the idea that she is making herself available for him, when she wishes to, not when he desires her. He also says, 'And stooping, made my cheek lie there', which suggests how he does not do this out of will.

Even so, there is then a narrative shift from her being dominant and assertive, as Browning writes, 'Murmuring how she loved me -she too weak, for all her hearts endeavour, to set it's stuggling passion free,' - this recreates her image into a feeble, fragile being, too drained to convey her adoration for this one man. However we then get an insight into the feelings of the narrator, the way he feels about Porphyria, and we begin to see how he may want to preserve this woman, to keep her his eternally. We recognise this when Browning writes, 'At last I knew Porphyria worshipp'd me; surprise made my heart swell, and still it grew while I debated what to do. That moment she was mine, mine, fair, perfectly pure and good.' This exaggerates his own love for Porphyria, clearly wanting to own her, perhaps as she seemed to own him. To regain his dominance. It also explains how perhaps Porphyria had only ever given herself to him, nobody else had touched her, thus the use of 'perfectly good and pure', which also emphasizes the religious apsect of the poem, as angels are wholesome.

The feelings of the narrator towards Porphyria are heightened in the next line, 'I found a thing to do, and all her hair in one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, and strangled her. No pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain.' This urges many questions as to why he would want to murder her, which we can only assume is because it is the only way she can be rightfully his forever, or it may even be more morbid than this; it is the only way he can have full control over her. Perhaps he did not like the power she had over him, the power of an angelic figure.

We understand he is not guilty for what he has done, as Browning describes how he opened her lids to see her blue eyes once again, and a guilty person would never want to look their victim in the eyes to see their wrong doing stare back at them. The use of alliteration in the sentence, 'Blush'd bright beneath my burning kiss,' is effective as it acts almost as a lullaby - you can almost imagine this man voicing these words, as they roll off the tongue so effortlessly and so flawlessly.