Compare and Contrast Poetry Education for Leisure by Carol Ann Duffy (written 1986) and Porphyria’s Lover by Robert Browning (written 1832)

Authors Avatar
Compare and Contrast Poetry

Education for Leisure by Carol Ann Duffy (written 1986)

and

Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning (written 1832)

When I first read these two poems, they seemed to have nothing in common with each other. However, after reading them thoroughly, some similarities appeared and the differences became less apparent.

"Education for Leisure" concerns a lonely, paranoid individual who leads a normal, boring life. He has been denied the opportunity to make something of himself, either through his own laziness or the education system failing him. But he believes himself to be a genius and he wants to controls other peoples' lives, as he has never had control over his own. He tries to attract attention by killing.

The subject in "Porphyria's Lover" is that of a couple, not meant to be together for whatever reason, and are secretly meeting. Once the man realises that Porphyria loves him, he is so overcome with surprise that he strangles her, in order to preserve the moment and the feeling that Porphyria had for him.

If Carol Ann Duffy were to read the "Education for Leisure" aloud, I expect that she would read it in a very bored manner, to reflect the life that the persona lives. In the places where the persona is acknowledging his brilliance, the tone would be very cocky and arrogant. He pictures himself as a talented person who society has failed, and feels that we should pity him for being the ignored frustrated individual that he is.

In "Porphyria's Lover", the man sounds very much like a child. He sounds like a murderer; the way in which he is very gentle and childlike is frightening to me. In a way he also sounds selfless, killing Porphyria because it was her wish for them to be together. But this persona is also selfish in that he killed Porphyria because he wanted her to love only him.
Join now!


"Education for Leisure" is a free verse poem and there is no definite rhyme scheme to it, although there a few instances of internal rhyme:

"...today I am going to play God. It is an ordinary day, a sort of grey..."

The rhythm in "Education for Leisure" is iambic pentameter (5 stressed and unstressed syllables to each line) and this iambic rhythm also keeps the poem at a steady pace.

"Porphyria's Lover" has a more definite rhyming scheme. The rhymes are in two different patterns: a, b, a, b, b, and e, f, ...

This is a preview of the whole essay