"Porphyria's Lover" and "The Laboratory"
Natalie Kinsella 11T "Porphyria's Lover" and "The Laboratory" both deal with crimes of passion. Explore ways Browning explains ways of obsessive nature of his character and analysis the effects of literary techniques. "Porphyria's Lover" is a poem about a crime and passion. Porphyria is a young, wealthy girl who seems to have abandoned her family's tradition of choosing wealthy men as lovers. Her lover remains anonymous, this could be because he has murdered her and does not want his name releasing. There is no actual reference as to why he committed this crime we can only make suggestions. Perhaps it was because she would not forsake her affluent companions for him, or because he felt she did not share his love for her. This poem is in the lover's point of view only, so we can not really know how Porphyria is feeling, we can only guess from her body language and her actions mentioned and her actions. It is a Victorian poem and Browning uses sexual references, which is very unusual because sex was a taboo and was not discussed openly in Victorian times. At the beginning of the poem, there is a storm brewing which is mirroring the lover's feelings. He is angry at Porphyria and desperately wants her love "The sullen wind was soon awake, It tore the elm tops down for spite," The wind has been personified which is particularly effective because it heightens the anger the
Compare and contrast the presentation of the diseased mind in 'Porphyria's Lover' by Robert Browning and 'Too Bad' written by Carol Ann Duffy
Compare and contrast the presentation of the diseased mind in 'Porphyria's Lover' by Robert Browning and 'Too Bad' written by Carol Ann Duffy Browning and Duffy both introduce their poems using the device of pathetic fallacy. Browning conveys the turbulent state of the lover, by creating a vivid picture of the weather outside the cottage. We could suggest that in both poems the weather is reflective of the lover's and the assassin's sate of mind. The weather is used to create an atmosphere and mood within the poems. This gives a more visual image. Within the poems they concern many ideas, but primarily it could be seen to present a 'diseased mind' in different forms. In 'Porphyria's Lover' we could suggest that it's a crime of passion. Whereas, 'Too Bad' conveys that the assassin has planned and knows about the killing. This is murder! In 'Too Bad' we can depict that by using the image, "rain" suggests a dark, cold, depressing mood. Browning elaborates the build up of anger in the line, "the sullen wind was soon awake" within the personification the line intensifies his sulky, sad mood. However the words, "wind was soon awake" develops a notion of fury in his mind as he waits for her. The atmosphere portrays a stronger impression of the assassin's mind and thoughts. In contrast to Duffy, within her first stanza evokes a feel of coldness, a time of "winter" suggestive of when
Compare & Contrast 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess'. Which Poem do you Find More Effective and Why?
Compare & Contrast 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess'. Which Poem do you Find More Effective and Why? Robert Browning was writing his poems at the time Queen Victoria was on the throne. He was born in 1812 and died in Venice in 1889. During his life he wrote many poems, two of which were 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess'. These are the poems we are going to be studying. During Browning's lifetime England was very clearly divided into class systems. If you were born into the working class that is where you would stay all your life, you would only associate with people from your class and you would work for people of the higher classes. If you were born into the higher classes you would not contemplate even talking to someone of a lower class than yourself. Also at this time women had no rights, they had no say in anything to do with politics, and they didn't even have the vote. Women were told who to marry in this time period, usually for money rather than love. This is all very ironic as the monarch at the time was a woman. The two poems we are studying - 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess' - reflect the unfairness I have pointed out very effectively and for this reason some of Robert Browning's poetry was frowned upon. An example of this is in 'Porphyria's Lover'. The relationship in it is between a man of a low class and a woman of a higher class which
How does Browning in Porphyria's lover and Laboratory convey the workings of a diseased mind
How does Browning in "Porphyria's lover" and "Laboratory" convey the workings of a diseased mind? Browning conveys the workings of a disease mind in "Porphyria" and "Laboratory" in various ways as he uses personification in both poems to underline the emotions of the character. Both of the poems are dramatic monologues which give us the audience a clear insight into the killers' warped minds and also convey the emotions of the protagonist in "the Laboratory" and "Porphyria" which is conveyed in a melodramatic way in the 19th century as both poems were written at that time. Browning's audience enjoyed these poems very much as horror was a popular genre for the Victorians. "The Laboratory" is a poem which describes the jealousy of a woman and how a human mind could do wicked things to achieve what they desire for. Whereas in "Porphyria" which is quite similar to "the Laboratory" shows how control between two lovers lead to death. In stanza one of "the Laboratory" there is an evil atmosphere being described, "devils smithy" who is the apothecary and when Browning connects it to the devil it conveys evil. The apothecary seems to be preparing deadly fumes from arsenic "smokes curling whitely" which suggests that arsenic is poison which creates a more evil atmosphere as it shows that something gruesome is going to happen. However in Porphyria, the atmosphere is at a stormy
Compare and contrast the poems 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning - Examine how Browning presents love and relationships in these poems.
Compare and contrast the poems 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning. Examine how Browning presents love and relationships in these poems. Robert Browning was a poet in the 1800's. He married a woman that he loved and tragically lost, which is also shown in his poems as both female characters are killed. I do not believe that they portray his wife, but show what women were like in the social structure of that period, and how the men acted towards them. The first point is that both of the poems are dramatic monologues, spoken from the male that causes the death of their wife or lover. This shows that in the poem women are not given much of a voice, which I also believe happens in their society. It also shows that the love and relationship in each poem is not really based on love, more so of control and power, as the women do not actually have a voice or a way in which to defend themselves. For all we know, the Duke from 'My Last Duchess' could be lying throughout. At the start of 'Porphyria's Lover' the setting is very gloomy and disturbed, "The rain set early in tonight, the sullen wind was soon awake." This shows the weather but also how the Lover is feeling at the moment. This sets the scene and contrasts the events where Porphyria enters the room. She "glided in", which gives her a graceful image, which suggests the relationship has been formed on
A study of "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning
A study of "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" are both dramatic monologues which describe relationships that conclude with a murder. They each have themes of power, obsession, and control, and are narrated from a male perspective. The setting, style of writing, and visual details differ in each poem. The poem "Porphyria's Lover" allows the reader an insight into the mind of an abnormally possessive lover. It describes the murder of Porphyria that occurs after a particularly intense moment of love that the narrator wants to sustain. Browning begins the poem negatively, using the weather to describe the forthcoming events. By using words such as 'sullen' to describe weather, Browning personifies and adds power to the wind. Further anxiety and tension is then added from, "I listened with heart fit to break", which suggests that the narrator is particularly eager to see Porphyria. On her arrival, the power and control is fully with Porphyria. She glides into the room and taunts her lover by seductively shaking her hair and removing her outer garments; all whilst deliberately ignoring him. The regular use of colour creates visual images in the poem, with words such as 'yellow' being used to describe Porphyria's hair, and 'white' to describe her skin colour. As she sits down, she places her lover's arm around her
Analyse "Porphyria's lover" by Robert Browning
Porphyria's lover is one of the most dramatic monologues written by a Victorian poet. Many tried to grasp new concepts of sensuality and brutality but it was Browning who captured these themes perfectly. As the Victorian society developed it's understanding on sexuality and morality, people realized how many problems they have to face due to the idea of bad and wrong. Consciousness was a new idea so many poets didn't look at the normal side of the society but tried to develop their understanding and reflection of the insane minds. Porphyria's lover is a great example of such a reflection. Through the monologue we are pushed to face the conflict within the mind, the most twisted endeavors of our souls and the tip of a huge mountain of insanity. The narrator of this great piece is a complex multi layered character who shows us the problems and conflicts within his mind. Browning unfolds the secrets of the narrator very subtlety. The murder is described with a passive and apathetic voice which makes this poem seem so unreal and abstract. The author touches the most delicate and dark sides of our mind and shows us what would happen if the was no conscious present or if it was understood differently. The narrator describes his actions as ' I found a thing, thing to do,(...)and strangled her'. This is a very passive description of a action. It tells us that the narrator
'My Last Duchess' is a love poem, where it describes about 2 people marrying each other for business or political reasons.
'My Last Duchess' is a love poem, where it describes about 2 people marrying each other for business or political reasons. The poem is set during the Italian Renaissance. The person who is speaking throughout the poem or presumably the narrator is the Duke of Ferrara. The story is about the Duke showing a painting of his last duchess who he says died of a heart attack at a very young age, to an emissary of his prospective second wife. The poem tells us that the duke takes only 1 of the emissaries from the delegation and leaves the rest downstairs eating. He takes one of the emissaries and shows him a painting of his last duchess, Lucrezia de’ Medici and he goes on talking to the emissary about her. He then starts telling the emissary about him seeing the painting of the duchess as she was alive and then he starts giving the painting some life 'Looking as if she were alive' and 'and there she stands'. He also tells the emissary about the artist who painted the painting, Fra Pandolf. He also starts to brag about his painting and starts to say that no stranger can look and see the painting but him. He is also referring the emissary as a stranger however he is showing him the painting just to impress him and the delegation. The duke mentions a curtain covering the painting. This indicates that the duke controls the painting or basically his last duchess as he gives some life to
Porphyria's Lover
Porphyria's Lover," 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. 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 realizes that she "worship[s]" him at this instant. Realizing 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. 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. This poem is a dramatic monologue--a fictional