Analysis of Browning's Poems: My Last Duchess and Porphyria's Lover
Explore the context, content, and interpretations of Robert Browning's poems My Last Duchess and Porphyria's Lover. Delve into the themes, characters, and literary techniques used by Browning in these captivating works.
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My Last Duchess http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2poAl00 mcA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZxq3r7Tl Ho&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsVqsy0F U-M&feature=related
LO: To explore the context and content of Browning s poem Porphyria s Lover
What is Porphyria? An archaic term for the colour purple Greek porphura meaning purple pigment A disease caused by the over-production of Porphyria. Symptoms include: Causes urine to appear purple Hallucinations, paranoia , nausea Seizures Abdominal pain Pale skin Vampires and werewolves? Famous cases: George III, Mary Queen of Scots, Vincent Van Gogh, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
Some interpretations... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSya0Tnz xmE&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE6PjB1kn 4w&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiPFgwbs5 T4&feature=related
PorphyriasLover http://animoto.com/play/WyKGxIKQPn21ro4WzqDfaA
Weather... rain set early sullen sullen wind... for spite, and did its worst to vex its worst to vex the lake
glided in Porphyria Porphyria Porphyria
Browning uses pathetic fallacy to convey (show) the mood of the speaker. Definition: The attribution of human feelings and responses to inanimate things or animals, esp. in art and literature.
made the cheerless grate Blaze up, and all the cottage warm
The juxtaposing (unusual way he puts them next to) of the harsh, stormy weather with Porphyria s return to the cottage emphasises...
Just like the Duke in MLD, the speaker in PL uses she repeatedly Too weak, for all her heart s endeavor, To set its struggling p passion free From p pride ride, and vainer ties dissever, And give herself to me forever. she she Definition: A plosive speech sound. The basic plosives in English are t, k, and p (voiceless) and d, g. assion free From Plosive sounds repeated Sacrifice; an object like the Duchess
smooth white white shoulder bare bare
Porphyria worshiped me Religious aspect to PL. How does this link to MLD?
That moment she was mine, mine, fair, Possession Object
Similar to the detached speaker in MLD, the speaker here is reasoned but we know he is not sound of mind from his actions. I found A thing to do A thing to do, and all her hair In one long yellow string I wound I wound Three times her little throat around, And strangled her strangled her.
her cheek once more Blushed bright beneath my burningkiss Laughed the blue eyes without a stain
I propped her head up as before Only, this time my shoulder bore Her head, which droops upon it still: What is the effect of the enjambment here? Definition: the continuation of a syntactic unit from one line of verse into the next line without a pause. Simply, a sentence that runs on to the next line.
And And thus we sit together now, And And all night long we have not stirred, And And yet God has not said a word! What is the significance and effect of the repetition used here?
Summary/Context Porphyria sLover, which first appeared in 1836, is one of the earliest and most shocking of Browning s dramatic monologues. 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.
Summary/Context cont... 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 realises that she worship[s] him at this instant. Realising that she will eventually give in to society s pressures, and wanting to preserve the moment, he wraps her hair around her neck and strangles her.
Summary/Context cont... 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.
Form Porphyria s Lover, while natural in its language, does not display the colloquialisms or dialectical markers of some of Browning s later poems. Moreover, while the cadence of the poem mimics natural speech, it actually takes the form of highly patterned verse, rhyming ABABB. The intensity and asymmetry of the pattern suggests the madness concealed within the speaker s reasoned self-presentation.
Form/Structure cont.. This poem is a dramatic monologue a fictional speech presented as the musings of a speaker who is separate from the poet. Like most of Browning s other dramatic monologues, this one captures a moment after a main event or action. Porphyria already lies dead when the speaker begins. Just as the nameless speaker seeks to stop time by killing her, so too does this kind of poem seek to freeze the consciousness of an instant.
Interactive Resources http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/2008- 09/english/irf08-86/index.html
