Porphyria's Lover

“Porphyria’s Lover,” written by English poet Robert Browning (1812-1889), was first published as “Porphyria” in the January 1836 issue of Monthly Depository. It went relatively unnoticed until it was republished in 1842, in the third volume of a series of 12 pamphlets titled Bells and Pomegranates. This volume was titled Dramatic Lyrics and featured several of Browning’s dramatic monologues. “Porphyria’s Lover” details the troubling murder of a young woman named Porphyria told from the point of view of her clandestine lover. While not overly popular at the time of its initial publication, it later helped solidify Browning’s reputation as a master of the dramatic monologue, a poem in which a fictional speaker (or persona) addresses an unseen listener. Its full title, “Porphyria’s Lover,” was first given in 1863. Publicly ridiculed for work in his early career, Browning became renowned for his ability to craft such monologues. These dramatic lyrics, along with his epic poem The Ring and the Book (1868-1869), later made him one of the preeminent poets of the Victorian era. Today, as the first known dramatic monologue that Browning published, “Porphyria’s Lover” is one of the poet’s most well-known poems. It is often anthologized and analyzed, particularly to discuss Victorian attitudes regarding gender roles and explore the aberrant psychology the speaker exhibits.

Poet Biography

Browning was born in Camberwell, Surrey (later part of London), England on May 7, 1812. He was the only son of Sarah Anna Wiedemann and Robert Browning, who worked as a clerk in the Bank of England, a well-paid position. The couple also had a younger daughter, Sarianna, with whom Robert the younger was close his entire life.

The family encouraged their children’s interest in the arts. Browning’s father was an avid book collector, owning approximately 6,000 volumes, while his mother was a talented musician. Browning wrote his first book of poetry at age 12 but destroyed the volume when he couldn’t find a publisher. Disliking school, he was educated at home and by the age of 14 was fluent in French, Greek, Italian, and Latin. He composed music, showing talent, and admired the Romantic poets, especially Percy Bysshe Shelley. At age 16, he attended classes at the University of London but left after the first session. He refused to pursue a formal career and resided with his parents until the age of 34.

His public career began in 1833, when he self-published Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession anonymously. Although critics said it had merit, it did not sell. In 1835, another epic, Paracelsus, gained attention of some of the most notable authors of the time: William Wordsworth, Charles Dickens, and Alfred Lord Tennyson. This gained him access to the London literary world. Browning wrote some plays in the next few years, but only one was performed.

In 1838, he traveled to Italy and continued writing Sordello, a long poem in the style of Dante. It was published in 1840 to widespread ridicule and bad reviews, which significantly damaged his reputation as a writer. In 1841, Bells and Pomegranates, a series of eight pamphlets to feature his plays, was published. The publisher suggested he include several of his dramatic lyrics. Bells and Pomegranates. No. III.—Dramatic Lyrics (1842) includes some of his most important poems: “Porphyria’s Lover,” “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister,” and “My Last Duchess,” as well as the children’s poem, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” However, these publications did not fully recover his reputation. Moreover, he was considered a nonconformist as a liberal, a supporter of the emancipation of women, and an active opposer to slavery and antisemitism. His grandfather traded enslaved people in the West Indies, but his father was a staunch abolitionist, a view Browning upheld as well.

In 1845, the poet Elizabeth Barrett praised Browning in her published collection, Poems. Barrett had a more solidified reputation, and Browning wrote to her of his gratitude in January of 1845. In May of that year, they met in person, and fell in love. Barrett, who became ill at age 15 and remained so for the rest of her life, lived in her father’s house. She was ordered by her doctors to go to Italy for her health, but her father refused to let her out of his house. In September 1846, she eloped with Browning and relocated to Italy. Barrett’s health radically improved, but her father disinherited her when he discovered her marriage.

Browning’s writing output radically diminished as he cared for Barrett, but he encouraged his wife to publish her own love sonnets. These were very successful, and their publication cemented her role as an eminent Victorian poet. The couple had one son, Robert “Pen” Wiedemann Barrett Browning, who was born in Florence, Italy in 1849. Upon his birth, Barrett inherited money from a cousin and the Browning family lived comfortably for several years. During this time, Browning wrote Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day (1850), which examines different attitudes toward Christian holidays, and one collection of poems, Men and Women. The book, when published in 1855, had little impact critically or financially.

In the late 1850s, Barrett’s health started to decline and she died in her husband’s arms at the age of 55. Browning and his now 12-year-old son returned to London, where he slowly rejoined literary society. He prepared Barrett’s Last Poems for press and released his own collection, Dramatis Personæ, in 1864. This went to a second edition, and Browning began to receive recognition.

For the next few years, he worked on an epic poem that would be published in 1868-1869. The Ring and the Book made him a leading English poet. Based on a famous 1698 Roman trial, it was considered a tour de force of dramatic poetry and was commercially and critically successful. For the rest of his life, Browning was much in demand in London society. From then on, Browning continued to write long narrative and dramatic lyrics, often with contemporary or classical themes. In the 1870s, he produced 10 volumes. These include Balaustion’s Adventure (1871), Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau (1871), Fifine at the Fair (1872), Red Cotton Night-Cap Country (1873), The Inn Album (1875), Aristophanes’ Apology (1875), Pacchiarotto and How He Worked in Distemper (1876), La Saisiaz (1878), an elegy for a deceased friend, and two volumes of Dramatic Idyls (1879 and 1880).

In the 1880s, he collected his poems for the volumes Jocoseria (1883), Ferishtah’s Fancies (1884), and Asolando: Fancies and Facts (1889). He also wrote a book about his poetic influences, Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in Their Day (1887). The Robert Browning Society was formed in 1881, and he was widely regarded for his knowledge and philosophical ideas about Victorian life. He was awarded two honorary degrees, one from Oxford University (1882), the other from the University of Edinburgh (1884). In April of 1889, he was the first literary figure to ever have his voice recorded by Thomas Edison.

In early December of that same year, while staying with Pen, now a painter and sculptor in Italy, Browning caught a cold and became seriously ill. He died on December 12, 1889 at the age of 77, the same day that his final volume of verse, Asolando: Fancies and Facts, was published. At the time of his death, he was one of the most popular poets in England. When his body was conveyed to Westminster Abbey on December 31, the streets were lined with thousands of people. He was interred in Poets’ Corner.

Poem Text

The rain set early in to-night, 

      The sullen wind was soon awake, 

It tore the elm-tops down for spite, 

      And did its worst to vex the lake: 

      I listened with heart fit to break. 

When glided in Porphyria; straight 

      She shut the cold out and the storm, 

And kneeled and made the cheerless grate 

      Blaze up, and all the cottage warm; 

      Which done, she rose, and from her form 

Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl, 

      And laid her soiled gloves by, untied 

Her hat and let the damp hair fall, 

      And, last, she sat down by my side 

      And called me. When no voice replied, 

She put my arm about her waist, 

      And made her smooth white shoulder bare, 

And all her yellow hair displaced, 

      And, stooping, made my cheek lie there, 

      And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair, 

Murmuring how she loved me — she 

      Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour, 

To set its struggling passion free 

      From pride, and vainer ties dissever, 

      And give herself to me for ever. 

But passion sometimes would prevail, 

      Nor could to-night's gay feast restrain 

A sudden thought of one so pale 

      For love of her, and all in vain: 

      So, she was come through wind and rain. 

Be sure I looked up at her eyes 

      Happy and proud; at last I knew 

Porphyria worshipped me; surprise 

      Made my heart swell, and still it grew 

      While I debated what to do. 

That moment she was mine, mine, fair, 

      Perfectly pure and good: I found 

A thing to do, and all her hair 

      In one long yellow string I wound 

      Three times her little throat around, 

And strangled her. No pain felt she; 

      I am quite sure she felt no pain. 

As a shut bud that holds a bee, 

      I warily oped her lids: again 

      Laughed the blue eyes without a stain. 

And I untightened next the tress 

      About her neck; her cheek once more 

Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss: 

      I propped her head up as before, 

      Only, this time my shoulder bore 

Her head, which droops upon it still: 

      The smiling rosy little head, 

So glad it has its utmost will, 

      That all it scorned at once is fled, 

      And I, its love, am gained instead! 

Porphyria's love: she guessed not how 

      Her darling one wish would be heard. 

And thus we sit together now, 

      And all night long we have not stirred, 

      And yet God has not said a word!

Browning, Robert. “Porphyria’s Lover.” 1836. Poetry Foundation.

Summary

The poem begins with a description of the setting and an inhospitable storm. Told from his perspective, Porphyria’s lover reveals he is heartsick. He is surprised when Porphyria arrives, dripping from the rain. He admits he does not speak to her as she tends to the fire, shoring it up to make his home warmer. After taking off her wet outerwear, she comes to sit by him. He still won’t respond to her, so she cozies up to him and has him rest his head on her shoulder. She tells him she has romantic feelings for him. Against conventional wisdom, and better judgment, she has snuck away from a “gay feast” (Line 27) to come see him, through the inclement weather. At first, the lover is overjoyed that Porphyria has declared herself his and has left behind “vainer ties” (Line 24). Determined to never let her go, he wraps her long blonde hair around her neck and strangles her to death. Afterwards, he assures himself she felt nothing as he murdered her. He positions her dead body against him, with her head on his shoulder. Rejoicing that she can never be fickle again, he sits with her body the entire night, wondering that “God has not said a word” (Line 60).