There is then a change of atmosphere at lines 6, where it describes Porphria making herself at home, not knowing her fate. The speaker/Lover is monitoring Porphyria’s action and is making awareness of what she is doing. He explains everything methodically. He lists the order of tasks she does: she shuts out the cold, kneels down, makes a fire, takes off her coat, and sits by his side. This can be seen as obsessive, as he is observing everything she is does.
During the poem, after Porphyria has made herself comfortable, she seems to try and seduce him by:
“She put my arm about her waist,
And made her smooth white shoulder bare,
And all her yellow hair displaced,”
this shows that the man is quite passive and inert to her affection, and the love that she shows him may not be shared. It is unrequited. He considers her “too weak” and prideful to leave her husband and comfortable life and be with her lover. He feels he needs to help her, and will help her by killing her. He feels that him strangling Porphyria is not a murder but merely, a crime of passion.
After the speaker has "strangled her" he says "I am quite sure she felt no pain." This is quite obviously wrong as she must have felt pain. I think that this shows that he is slightly insane, which is also shown by his actions at the start, and I think that it is the separation between them that has caused him to become like this. He doesn’t want to feel guilty, and so he tries to minimise the crime.
The Lover feels that now, he has full power over Porphyria by saying:
“As a shut bud holds a bee”
He then tries to justify his actions by saying that:
“The smiling rosy little head,
So glad it has its utmost will,”
He is saying that she did make a choice of who she wanted to be with and it was him. By her choosing him, he claims that he has given her something that she has always wanted.
The poem ends in a powerful way. It ends with another reason to justify his actions of killing Porphyria. The poem ends with the line:
“And yet God has not said a word!”
This shows that if the lover thought that killing Porphyria was wrong, then he would have punished him. Instead he seems to think that God is agreeing to the murder and allowing it. He has a sense of satisfaction and is proud of what he did.
“Porphyria’s Lover” has no stanzas, and is written in rhyming couplets, except for the end. This gives the poem a set rhythm, and control, something that the Lover wants to gain from Porphyria. The poems contains similies and metaphors with strong adjectives used to project the speakers strong desires and tone. For example:
“Made my heart swell, and still it grew”
Half way through the poem, the tone of the poem changes and gets more serious after the word “But”. This implies change, in either the plot or the narrator’s tone or actions.
There is repetition used of the word “mine”. This makes the Lover sound obsessive.
In contrast to “Porphyria’s Lover”, “My Last Duchess” has a regular rhyme. It is written as a first person telling the story. However, since it is only a first person, it could be a biased opinion of the Duchess, which the Duke has murdered.
Similar to “Porphyria’s Lover”, the poem is written in one stanza, giving the poem and the Duke power and control.
The opening lines of the poem have a sense of control to it, as the Duke is repeating “I” so that he gives the orders and commands.
The Duke is, possibly talking to a messenger or a guest, about the painting of his wife, who has died.
The Duke’s attitude changes during the poem. He is first seen praising the artist who drew the portrait, as he thinks she is so beautiful. He then, however, starts to criticise her by saying:
“A heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad,”
Too easily impressed…”
He then continues by saying that he gave her many gifts, such as a broach, an orchard, a mule, but the ultimate one was giving her his name. This shows that he is conceited and proud. This is similar to the speaker in “Porphyria’s Lover”.
The Duke feels that his love was unrequited. This can be seen when he says:
“…Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed her without
Much the same smile?...”
The Duke feels that she didn’t love him to the extent that he loved her. She loved other men around her. He did not like this, and so the only way that he could stop that was if he killed her. This is much like “Porphyria’s Lover” where he is being obsessive, and if he cannot have her then no one can. This way he can have full control over her. He is shown as being obsessive.
The poem seems to be suggesting that the Duke likes the Duchess as a painting rather than a person as then he can be in control and command everything. If he does not want to look and her he can hide her away by pulling the curtain:
“The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
This shows he has control over her as he decides who sees the portrait. He sees her as a possession.
“My Last Duchess” uses rhetorical questions as an emphasis to power. The poem also contains metaphors and similes.
Both poems contain aspects of obsessiveness and unrequited love. The speakers in both poems portray their women as a possession, in which they have full control over. The only way they can do this is by killing them. After the murder, both men feel no guilt or sorrow they feel as if it was a natural thing to do.
I will be looking at one last poem, and comparing it with “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess”. This poem is “To His Coy Mistress”.
Similar to “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess”, “To His Coy Mistress” is also written in a dramatic monologue. The poem is about seduction, in which the narrator wants the women to have sex with him.
The poem is in rhyming couplets. Andrew Marvell chose to rhyme in couplets because he s talking about couples.
Unlike “Porphyria’s Lover” and “My Last Duchess”, “To His Coy Mistress” is written in three stanzas. The poem uses many exaggerated images to try and seduce his mistress. The poem also uses similes, metaphors and enjamblement.
The narrator stresses how important time is. The poem is filled with references to it, and is one of its persuasive techniques.
The tone, in the first stanza is quite comic, where the narrator tries to flatter the woman.
In the poem, the narrator puts forward reasons why she should sleep with him. One of them is that time is wasting:
“HAD we but world enough, and time”
He is saying if there was enough time, then I would not pressurize you, but there simply is not so let us act now.
Another example of time being used is when he says:
“Time’s winged chariot hurrying near;”
This is a personification of time and it is running out and will not wait for them.
The narrator tries to persuade the woman into having sex with him by praising her and telling her how much he loves her. He includes figures in thousands to show how he loves her. He will adore every part of her body. He magnifies the number each time: “A hundred”, “Two hundred”. He then makes it vague when he says:
“But thirty thousand to the rest;”
He uses hyperboles to persuade her. For example:
“Love you ten years before the Flood,”
This could never happen, but he is trying to persuade her.
A new stanza begins with the pivotal word “But”, which implies change. The narrator changes mode and tries to frighten the woman by saying that if time runs out then her beauty will fade away and then she could die.
“Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound”
He says that she will feel isolation and loneliness. He is posing a threat on her.
“…then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity,”
The narrator is saying here, that if she does not lose her virginity to him, then the worms in her tomb is the only thing close to her, and she will end up losing her virginity to them. They will decay her. This makes the poem sound alarming. He then moves on and makes her imagine how she will feel being isolated and without physical love. He says that he can offer it to her.
The third stanza starts with the word ”Now”, emphasizing, once again, time. The opening makes the women feel like a possession, similar to “My Last Duchess”. This stanza changes tone to a more positive approach in which he says why not seize the moment and not worry about the future. This can be seen when he says:
“Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.”
He is saying that they will have victory over time. This line is quite empowering
The fact that he says “…let us sport us while we may” makes you wonder how trusty he is and will he make a commitment or is it just for pleasure?
The narrator is transparent in what he wants. He only wants his mistress for sex and pleasure.
The poem starts with the pronoun “we” but as the poem progresses, it starts to separate into individuals: “I” and “thou”. At the end, it turns back to “us”.
The first stanza of the poem makes the reader think that it is a love poem, when really it is a lust poem. The narrator uses the images of fear and lost opportunity and time as a threat to the woman.
The writers, in the poems that I have compared, bring out love in different ways. There are different tactics involved, which is what I think make all these poems unique and interesting to read. Each poem brings about different types of love. The poems all try to get the women they think they rightfully deserve, except for “My Last Duchess” where he is obsessive about his woman.
Word Count:2213 Sumeera Noreen 11A
