Schaaf 1

Jennifer Schaaf
Allison Wimmer
English 102
September 12, 2019
Analysis of "Porphyria’s Lover"
Poet Robert Browning first wrote "Porphyria" around 1834 and first published it in 1836.

In 1842, “Porphyria” was reprinted along with “Johannes Agricola” in a publication called

Dramatic Lyrics, under a title containing the two poems. The "Madhouse Cells" is the

republished name that joined the two poems together. In 1863, Browing changed the titles of

both poems recognized as they are today as "Porphyria’s Lover" and “Johannes Agricola in

Meditation” (confirmed by Tracy, 579). The dramatic monologue, "Porphyria's Lover," is a

sixty-line stanza containing two equal sections enjambment and anastrophe help make-up the

structure, two types of rhyme, repetition(s), and alliteration are tools Browning used throughout

his writing.

Browning's main structure is a single stanza that he supports by having every other line

indented most likely for imagery, and mostly embracing iambic tetrameter starting in the

beginning. For example, "The rain set early in to-night" is the first line, and it is iambic

tetrameter (The rain | set ear | ly in | to- night) (1). Porphyria enters her supposed lover's cottage

after braving a storm to start a fire for warmth on a rainy night. She provides the action in the

first thirty lines until the Lover (narrator) takes over to, in most perspectives, murdering her

using her long hair. While ones' first impression might be, he only wrapped her hair around her

neck to show possession of her and take control. Ross uses one of her sources to show the switch

in the plot stating, "As Maxwell points out, at the beginning of the poem, Porphyria is clearly in

charge, but the tables turn on her by the end of the poem" (71). Supporting the optimistic view,
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Ross said, that after a discussion with a student, "I would like to suggest that beneath the

narrative of the insane, murdering lover, Browning layered a tale of erotic asphyxiation, one in

which Porphyria survives" (68). Keeping the solo stanza structure balanced Browning put the

plot change between lines thirty and thirty-one. He leads us to and from the switch in the lines

before and after making the transition seamless, “For love of her, and all in vain: / So, she was

come through the rain. / Be sue I looked up at her eyes / Happy and proud; at last I knew” (29-

32). With the gradual shift from Porphyria being the active figure to the Lover taking over

readers can follow the story with ease.

By occasionally keeping a word or words in at the end of a line after a pause that forms

the beginning of the next sentence or line (enjambment), Browning draws the reader to pause and

look deeper. Enjambment also gives a balanced visual, can help keep the meter, and in some

cases, fewer lines where more than two words start the next idea. Shires states, while comparing

Hardy to Browning "... Browning tests his readers morally, cajoling us into social relations..."

and "He relies on his inventive metrical energy and the varied diction of characters ... to pull the

reader into his poetic constructs" (585-6). Within "Porphyria's Lover" lines six and seven contain

the first use of enjambment with multiple others spaced randomly. For example, “When glided in

Porphyria; straight/She shut the cold out and the storm," the sentence break is between Porphyria

and straight without a pause before she (6,7). "Again" is the last word in line forty-four but starts

the next sentence of the next line; "I warily oped her lids; again/Laughed the blue eyes without

stain (44,46). Speaking the lines aloud lets readers hear where the pauses are and keeps them in-

tune with the flow.

Anastrophe in poetry gives the writing uniqueness and an old-school feel. By changing

the word order, Browning keeps us in the past and helps him keep the rhymes flowing in a way
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that makes the poem flow off the paper. Moreover, "I" wrapped her hair around, pales compared

to, "and all her hair/in one long yellow string I wound" (38-9). While her lover could have said

she felt no pain, in his state of mind, says instead, "no pain she felt" (41). Mixing word order can

be a sign showing the speaker's “psychotic” state of mind along with the storm raging outside his

cottage, leading him to kill her, preserving the love she admitted forever. For some readers

anastrophe can be confusing due to the fact it conflicts with what they learned in school and how

the conversate today, but its use invites the reader to ponder the deeper meaning of the words and

allows authors to rhyme line endings.

Browning uses two types of rhyme within "Porphyria's Lover," end rhyme and internal

rhyme. End rhyme is when the last syllable in a line rhymes with the end of another. There are

twelve five-line schemes of ABABB that build the sixty-line stanza. An example is present in

each five-line interval for instance, "But passion sometimes would prevail, / Nor could to-night's

gay feast restrain / A sudden thought of one so pale / For love of her, and all in vain: / So she was

come through wind and rain" (26-30). Internal rhyme (the vowel sounds of words within a line)

use is present in multiple lines, made and grate show this in "And kneeled and made the

cheerless grate" (8). Sutton commented, "The neatness of organization is enforced by the

rhymes, which fall close together in a regular pattern" (285). He also refers to the change in the

form saying, "At one point, however, the speaker digresses, and here the rhymes change -not in

pattern, but from masculine to feminine. In lines 21-25, the tempo accelerates with the addition

of a light syllable at the end of a line, making the utterance sound full of energy and vehemence"

(285). The lines Sutton refers to are, “she / Too weak, for all her heart's endeavor, / To set its

struggling passion free / From pride, and vainer ties dissever” (21-25). The double syllable of

the rhyming words “endeavor” and “dissever” make them feminine.

Repetition of ideas and words (anaphora) are used to show the feelings of the characters,

details of the evening, and more. The narrator describes the night beginning by telling about the

storm outside his cottage, that leads to Porphyria coming in for the storm only to build a fire due

to the cold it created and dry off. Both characters feelings are described in a way, so they are

comparable to a storm; first, he describes her brewing feelings, "for all her heart's endeavor, to

set its struggling passion free" (22-23). At this point, their "love" has shown repetition. Inline

five his heart is about to break and his love of her unrequited in twenty-nine. Not to be forgotten,

the storm Porphyria had to go through is used to show her feelings for him, in the next line. At

this point, one might think, due to the period, what was proper communication by society

standards, was the cause of the turmoil of emotions. Porphyria's hair is another repeated (two

stating the color), "the damp hair fall/ displaced all her yellow hair and all her hair/ In one long

yellow string/ untightened next the tress" (13, 18, 38, 39,46). Browning again brings up the

storm in the reflection of the lovers' feelings with his actions. The main anaphora (repetition of a

word) used is "And" (12-15, 17-20, 58-60). This use of "and" lets the reader see the frustration

the speaker is feeling; some may view him like he is stammering while retelling the event.

Another literary tool Browning used is alliteration. Where two or more words in a

sentence start with the same consonant or have the same phonic sound (can/car or

fable/phantom). An example of the same letter within a sentence is “Blushed bright beneath my

burning kiss” (48). To expand on variations the following fit the format of alliteration, “wind,

was, awake/from, form/smooth, shoulder/perfectly, pure/untightened, tress” (2, 10, 17,37, 46).

Like the other literary tools, alliteration affects how we perceive the characters, event, and the

entire poem. Many tongue twisters or phonic tools are examples of alliteration, Sally sells
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seashells by the seashore, comes to mind from childhood, and shows how diversely alliteration

can be used by writers.

Reading poetry from another century gives a look into how life was and the forms of

literature. The meaning of some words and language has a different context today compared to

the 1800's, which can add meaning or cause confusion. Using and understanding the literary

tools (of which were the same or similar in the past) students and other readers can deconstruct

the lines of stanzas of a dramatic monologue like "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning.

Browning splits the stanza by turning Porphyria from starting as the active character in the first

thirty lines to the inactive or passive person in the last thirty made for a dramatic plot twist.

Structured partly by enjambment and anastrophe, the reader is invited to explore or sit back as

the story unfolds. End type or Internal type, rhyme is, in a way, the stepping stones that get

someone through with its cadence. Repetition keeps the focus of different aspects, like when

Browning described the storm, mentioned twice how Porphyria went through the storm to meet

her lover and described how both characters' feelings were like a storm raging inside them.

Finally, by using alliteration Browning, made another path, so each one gave support to the

others. By analyzing "Porphyria' Lover," I could see how all the devices Browning used to fit

together like a puzzle. Tools used to write this analysis are "ART WARS" and a study guide

prepared by Michael J. Cummings, a Professor, and writer.

Works Cited

Browning, Robert. “Porphyria’s Lover.” Exploring Literature, Fifth Edition, Frank Madden,

Pearson, 2012, pp. 727-728.

Ross, Catherine. "Browning's "Porphyria's Lover." The Explicator, vol. 60, no. 2, 2002, pp. 68-

72. ProQuest, https://proxy.yc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-

com.proxy.yc.edu/docview/216775889?accountid=8141.

Shires, Linda M. "Hardy's Browning: Refashioning the Lyric." Victorian Poetry, vol. 50, no. 4,

2012, pp. 583-603,637. ProQuest, https://proxy.yc.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-

com.proxy.yc.edu/docview/1315137304?accountid=8141.

Sutton, Max Keith. "Language as Defense in 'Porphyria's Lover.'" College English, vol. 31, no.

3, 1969, pp. 280–289. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/374525.

Tracy, C. R. “Porphyria's Lover.” Modern Language Notes, vol. 52, no. 8, 1937, pp. 579–580.

JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/2912910.