“Porphyria’s Lover” by Robert Browning (1836, his first dramatic monologue)

A Very Good Reading of Poem

From The University of Glasgow. An illuminating podcast

Robert Browning is considered one of the greatest of Victorian poets.  For many  knowledge of him begins and ends with the story presented in the classic 1938 movie, 

The Barretts of Wimpole Street concerning his courtship and eventual marriage to Elizabeth Barrett, author of Love Sonnets of the Portuguese.  

“Porphyria’s Lover” is my first venture into vast oeuvre of Browning.  I was surprised by the violence in the poem and the deranged persona of the male narrator.  The poem begins with a traditional rhapsody to the beauty of the speaker’ love, Porphyria.  He speaks of his Love for her as futile and pointless, thwarted by unrevealed by the narrator causes.  Perhaps he hints that she may be forbidden to him do to her higher social rank.  I was totally startled when The narrator tells us that he has murdered Porphyria by strangling her with her long blond hair.  

With a reading or listening time under five minutes, this might be a good introduction to Browning.  

Please share your experiences with Browning or Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Mel u