Porphyria's Lover from my view is a poem about love and how the narrators love for Porphyria is so strong, the only way he can truly have her for his own is to kill her. An example of this is in line 36 ' That moent she was mine, mine, fair'. The poem is a dramatic monologue and uses iambic tetrameter to imitate speaking rhythms. In line 28 it says 'A sudden thought of one so pale' The poem was written in Victorian times, during this era paler women were thought to be more desirable as it was a sign of higher stature; people in the lower classes tended to have more tanned skin due to working outside doing manual labour.
By piecing together the fact that she is of a higher class and the name of the poem 'Porphyria's Lover' suggests that the narrator belongs to her, as if he is one lover of many or her man on the side. Both these would explain why she appears to be dominant over him, as well as why the only way she can be truly his is to kill her.
Reading Porphyria's Lover I instantly assumed the narrator was male, this is suggested by the way hes describes the woman Porphyria. It's written in past tense which gives the reader the impression that the narrator is reflecting upon their own experience, possibly as if re telling the tale to another. In the last 2 lines it says 'No pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain. This suggests that the narrator is slightly rueful toward the murder of his lover. There's no other ideas of guilt in the poem which portrays the idea that as he re tells the tale he begins to realise what he has done, so by the end he is left convincing himself what he did wasn't wrong.
What's interesting is the juxtaposition of murder toward the end of the poem, as it contradicts the mood in the rest of the piece, as the speaker has a calm tone throughout even during the murder. No voice is given to Porphyria herself throughout the poem suggesting that the narrator views her as his possession and doesn't have a mind of her own. You could also say that he does this is because he views her as unimportant and her voice doesn't matter but that contradicts his feelings for her portrayed throughout.
It's set in a cottage in the woods, the warm glow suggested in Line 9 'Blaze up, and all the cottage warm' opposes the stormy scene out in the woods at the beginning of the poem. The way the narrator describes the cottage as being warm following Porphyria's entrance gives the reader an insight immediately as to how he feels about her. There's this idea that when she enters the room his love for her is so strong that she appears to change the mood of the whole room. It could be argued that it isn't his feeling for her doing this but it is the character of Porphyria herself, and due to her impressive, goddess like presence.
Lines 15 to 20 show how Porphyria appears to be the dominant one in the relationship. Usually it would be the man who would make the first move but in this it is the woman. This idea of Porphyria being portrayed as the dominant character is enhanced by the title itself. Porphyria's Lover gives the reader the idea that he belongs to her and she has control over his role as a lover.
In line 37 the narrator says 'Perfectly Pure and good'. This could be thought of as a motive toward him murdering her. This idea that he loved her so much the only way he could keep her pure and stop her being soiled by the world is to kill her, so no harm can reach her. From Line 25 onwards you can notice a change in the dominant character. Now instead of Porphyria being the dominant character in the poem the narrator is. There are examples of this in line 25 'Give herself to me forever', line 33 'Porphyria worshipped me', line 49 'I propp'd her head up as before only, this time my shoulder bore'. That quote especially shows the change in power really well as earlier on it was Porphyria who bore his head on her shoulder.
At the end of the poem it says 'All night long we have not stirr'd, And yet god has not said a word,'. This quote has multiple connotations attached. The first suggests to the reader that god has had plenty of time to see what he has done yet he's done nothing, so what he has done is therefore okay and understood by god. Another way of looking at it could be that he feels guilty about what he has done and thinks that by god not creating any punishment for it he is able t convince himself that he has done the right thing and get rid of any self doubt.
To conclude throughout the poem Browning has used a variety of techniques to tell the story in Porphyria's Lover.
These are very good comments. You have made some very perceptive points about how the story is constructed.
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