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isidro
09-29-2009, 04:59 PM
Which I highly suggest people read because it is amazing. Analysis of one of the lines. Any commentary?

“So, she was come through wind and rain.”


The wind and rain I have fought to make it this far with my person still intact has proven extraordinary. I do in fact find myself damp and cold, beaten upon by implacable winds that would have leveled an oak to the ground as Browning suggests. The wetness of the journey seeps through my clothes and chills me to the marrow. Perhaps it is for that reason I cannot help but make the cottage warm upon my arrival. Comprehending as I do that foul temper of the cold harsh world in both nature and society, warmth is something toward which I naturally tend, the warmth of the “lover’s” embrace and in changing the atmosphere in which I find myself.

I discover in this poem a double meaning within myself in which the term “one eternal round” seems appropriate for I have found myself back at the beginning again. The circumstances are different but the characters and the poem remain the same with perhaps more power and meaning than it previously carried. Before, I glided through this poem entirely unaware that my actions reflected those of hers and now with a greater tenacity and understanding I fight through wind and rain, changing the world around me and beckoning the lover to my shoulder, fearless of any silent or unresponsive opposition, fueled and motivated by the love that vainer ties can no longer restrain. At the present moment one move forward and they will snap entirely.

The lover proves an interesting enough subject. Passionate but surprisingly passive in the sense that though he finds himself so pale he for some inexplicable reason does not reach out the hand but waits to only react to the romantic situation his counterpart’s heroism and passion provide. Is it fair then to blame the woman who comes through wind and rain, labors to change the atmosphere, and finally even provides the physical nearness he craves? What does he actively do to bring about the relationship? Perhaps one ought not demand too much of him since his attempt to hold the moment ends up destroying the woman entirely.

The masculine strength in this case allows vast interpretation at least to my own mind. Perhaps it is due to his greater masculine strength and a passion that overwhelms her to the point of surrendering this existence for another one in which she finally obtains the cherished object of her affections though in rather a different state than she had intended. It is a comfort at least to find that she feels no pain in the transition. I seem to comprehend only too well a possible interpretation of this part of the text. It is in fact possible for a man, and certainly the lover in this situation to unleash his passion for a woman to so great an extent that she finds herself helpless and under the spell of his mind and intelligence. And in truth, the lover is quite right. There is no pain, but rather a strange falling sensation in which the woman finds herself entirely lost within the soul and heart of the man. At that point as described in the text, the man then becomes entirely the active one and the woman submissive to him. On his shoulder then leans a heroine who could not be destroyed or deterred by gay festivities, storm, cold, labor or lack of responsiveness but who becomes entirely subject to him once he finally extends his hand.

Dark Muse
10-01-2009, 09:19 PM
I loved this poem. It has been a while since I have read the poem, so I cannot offer much in the way of deep insight at the moment. But I am a big fan of the disturbing tone that can be found throughout many of Browning's poems. This poem is quite a chilling delight. It was quite surprising when I first read it.

isidro
10-03-2009, 02:45 AM
Ah! I must confess a terrible secret! And by the way, I love your Poe quotation - hot!

I was introduced to this poem by a man who saw his association with me exactly as the poem reads. He saw it as he was pale with love for me and I was holding back due to vainer ties. So I confess I cheated. I understand this poem so well because, for all practical purposes, I was actually Porphyria and the lover is the man who tried to get me to give into him. So when I write about it, I simply write about my own story which fits perfectly, except that he never tried to kill me. (The man did however, ensure I understood his concept of the poem which is that he argues the man didn't mean to kill her but merely was trying to hold the moment of bliss.) I am grateful for an objective commentary on this since my own is so biased.

Dark Muse
10-03-2009, 03:29 AM
Hehe thank you it suits me.

When I get the chance I will have to take another look at the poem again.

prendrelemick
10-03-2009, 03:56 AM
I remember thinking that line is about the lover's stormy state of mind as much as the physical weather. He is in turmoil and only she is able get through the storm to reach him.

I too will have to read it again.

isidro
10-03-2009, 03:15 PM
I look forward to your comments when you do. Perhaps I should post the poem on here?

...the guy was really handsome with a PhD in English...:)

...I must have been crazy....