The differences between Porphyria’s lover and Mariana
Both of the poems have deep backgrounds to them, there are many different emotions to them, pain, anger and most of all love. Both use very similar language ‘he cometh not’ a part taken out of Mariana ‘she put my arm about her waist’ taken from Porphyria’s lover. You can tell that they are both set in the nineteenth century, the words that they both use are not modern English but correct English. As you read Mariana the built up is very strong, you get the disturbing feeling about a woman waiting for someone day in and day out. You can feel her disappointment ‘my life is dreary he cometh not’, ‘I am aweary, aweary I would that I were dead’ this shows us how much she feels for this person. Alfred gives us the sense of how long she has been waiting for by saying ‘the rusted nails fell from knots’ and he also includes ‘the blackest moss the flower-pots were thickly crusted’. It also gives us a feeling of neglect ‘the broken shed’. We know that she stays all day in the house because it states ‘all day within the dreamy house’. Porphyria’s love on the other hand is a man waiting for his lover. The beginning is very cold and not very friendly ‘the rain set early in tonight’ and ‘where ‘the sullen wind was soon awake’ there is also a mention about the lake – ‘the vex lake’, so the angry lake is stirring he is also feeling the pain of the like. But his loved one comes she gives a warm feeling ‘made the cheerless grate blaze up, and all the cottage warm’. A flirtatious feeling is given by the fact that he shoulder is uncovered and her damp hair falls on her shoulder.
