porphyria's lover - robert browning

“Porphyria’s”

possessive pronoun challenges the power imbalance created the speaker and traditional gender roles

“she shut the cold out and the storm”

pathetic fallacy as “storm” connotes destruction occurring when Porphyria left where she belongs creating a foreshadowing effect

“shuts out” ignoring nature’s warning because she really wants to be with him (as presented from his perspective)

“white shoulder bare… yellow hair”

colour imagery; white connotes purity and yellow symbolises white becoming less pure

“shoulder bare” would have been seen as scandalous in 19th century so direct contrast showing her purity by nature but impure actions

yellow is like a less valuable / beautiful gold showing how he undermines her wealth to deny how she is technically more powerful than him

“we sit together now”

shift to direct address after he kills her showing his insanity as he only feels close to her after using and abusing her

also referring to the audience (DM) making them complicit witnesses so they’re equally as responsible as they allowed him to kill her

→ his actions further accepted and justified “God has not said a word!”

“In one yellow string I wound Three times her little throat around,”

enjambment (and lack of stanzas throughout) refelcted his lack of control over his actions

also emulates the physical his thought process and impulsive nature as he thinks and acts simultaneously

the lack of pauses emphasise how engaged he is due to his obsession which has led him to a state of insanity

ABABB Rhyme Scheme

orderly and structured reflecting his plans and intent

reflects the relationship’s disjointed nature through the extra “B” - the elephant in the room

Dranatic Monologue

crafted account of story to work in his favour

only his perspective and voice showing the patriarchal power imbalance as he dominates the story like he dominates Porphyria despite her having more importance socially

third person highlights the detachment between the two