“Three times her little throat around
And strangled her.”
Here are the different figures of speech used in “Porphyria’s Lover”:
“As a bud shut that holds a bee.”
This simile was used to show how sealed and tight Porphyria’s eyes were, after she died. Like the way a Venus flytrap shuts off a bee from the outside world, Porphyria’s eyes are closed off from the world around her.
“Blushed bright beneath.”
This form of alliteration was used to show how her heart was still beating and how the blood was still circulating around her body, after death. This also shows how you can picture Porphyria, like an innocent schoolgirl, with rosy cheeks.
“It tore the elm-tops down for spite.”
This portrays how strong and terrifying the storm is. Browning compares the storm to a ferocious beast tearing its prey apart, bit by bit.
“Made my heart swell.”
Browning tries to express how happy and narcissistic P’s lover felt, when P’s lover said that Porphyria worships him. P’s lover was feeling immense satisfaction due to this, and because all the attention was directed towards him.
In “Porphyria’s Lover”, P’s lover had no reason to kill Porphyria but in “A Trampwoman’s Tragedy”, the trampwoman’s fancy man had a reason to kill jeering John: jealousy.
“And with his knife
He let out jeering Johnny’s life.”
However, one could argue that Porphyria’s lover was jealous of Porphyria, because she was so beautiful, many men would have wanted her. Therefore, Porphyria’s lover killed her so she would be with him forever.
“A Trampwoman’s Tragedy” is about jealous or possessive love.
The Trampwoman plays with her boyfriend’s feelings by flirting with jeering John, “I teased my fancy-man in play”.
I found the image of how on the same day Blue Billy was hanged, his child died, and the Trampwoman was left alone for eternity to be a very heart-rending and depressing one.
“On his death-day I gave my groan
And dropt his dead-born child.”
“ ’Tis past! And here alone I stray
Haunting the Western Moor.”
The murder of jeering John by the Trampwoman’s boyfriend shows how much love the boyfriend had towards the Trampwoman. Even when the Trampwoman lies and says that the baby belongs to jeering John, Blue Billy (fancy-man) kills jeering John and not the Trampwoman. “I nodded, still to tease.”
The love shown in “A Trampwoman’s Tragedy” is similar to that in “Porphyria’s Lover”. Blue Billy was jealous of jeering John, while P’s lover was jealous of Porphyria and her beauty.
When the Trampwoman says, “The ghost of him I’d die to kiss”, it is obviously that she still loves her boyfriend, and she is regretful for what she has done. When the Trampwoman’s child died, it was like a punishment by God himself, for playing a ‘practical joke.’
In “A Trampwoman’s Tragedy”, figures of speech are used to emphasize emotions, place names, the character:
Due to the fact, there was a battle in Sedge-Moor (Civil War); the place was named ‘sad’, because so many people died in combat, “sad Sedge-Moor.”
‘Jeering’ John was used show how much of a mocking character he was. This also implied when he was playing along to the Trampwoman’s joke, “jeering John”.
Browning showed how the story of “The Trampwoman’s Tragedy” carried a lot of sorrow and grief, and how it was the ‘talk in the pubs.’ “A gloomy tale.”
Assonance was used to highlight the rhythm of the poem, and the walking pattern of the tramps towards the north. “Northward way.”
The type of love found in “The Lady of Shalott” is unreciprocated love.
The story starts with the Lady of Shalott being trapped in a medieval castle, because a curse is upon her.
“She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily.
A curse is on her if she stay
To look down to Camelot.”
We can understand from the poem that the Lady of Shalott was very much in love with her knight, Sir Lancelot. Even though she knew the curse was upon her, she looked out of her balcony to see Lancelot.
“She saw the helmet and the plume,
She looked onto Camelot.”
Sir Lancelot tempted the Lady of Shalott to look out onto Camelot. He was like the devil tempting her with his charms. Tennyson described Lancelot as a very mesmerizing and striking character. This shows how magnificent and bright he looked.
“The helmet and the helmet-feather
Burned like one burning flame together.”
Lancelot towards the end of the poem says that he actually like the L of Shalott. This has an ironic element, as all this time the L of Shalott thought she was alone while in fact, Lancelot was attracted to her. Therefore, this could still mean that the L of Shallot’s love was unrequited.
“She has a lovely face;
God in his mercy lend her grace,
The Lady of Shalott.”
When compared to “Porphyria’s Lover” & “A Trampwoman’s Tragedy”, “The Lady of Shalott” expresses love in a completely new way. Porphyria loved Porphyria’s lover, and the Trampwoman was always loved by her fancy man, even after his death. However, the L of Shalott’s love was unreturned and so she was left alone in a desolate castle. Her last resort was death, to relieve herself of the curse. “The Lady of Shalott” is a tragic story, like that of “The Trampwoman’s Tragedy”.
Examples of figures of speech are used throughout this poem. Here are few:
The L of Shalott was forbidden to look out onto Camelot, so she must look into the mirror to catch a glimpse of Camelot. “Mirror’s magic”.
Lancelot had to be seen as a tidy, flawless character who regularly cleaned his armour, sword, and shield. Every time Lancelot moved, he had to make a noise to get attention, so all eyes were on him. “His armour rung.”
We have also studied a fourth poem called, “The Eve of St. Agnes”. The main theme of love shown in this poem is satisfied and romantic love.
I found this poem very interesting and passionate. I especially liked the idea of how Porphyro made The Eve of St. Agnes come true for Madeleine.
To conclude my coursework I’d like to say that there are different aspects of love shown in these four poems, but they all link together somewhere. “A Trampwoman’s Tragedy” showed how a man could be jealous and protective over his partner, while in “Porphyria’s Lover” shows how a person could be so insane, he becomes too overprotective and obsessed over his girlfriend.
“The Eve of St. Agnes” ends on a much happier note, where two people love each other deeply, and escape together. However, “The Lady of Shalott” ends tragically, and she only escapes to her death.
People believe love has only one true meaning (like a tree with one trunk), where a person has strong likings towards another. Then again, reading these poems have spread out the branches into different aspects and meanings of love.
