Compare the ways poets present desire in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and one other
poem from ‘Love and Relationships’. (‘Love’s Philosophy’)
Robert Browning’s ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Love’s
Philosophy’ both portray erotic desire, but from very different perspectives and using
very different methods. Browning’s poem is a dramatic monologue, as the speaker is
not the poet, and there is another person involved, although they are not directly
addressed. The speaker in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ speaks about the one he loves rather
than to her, using the third person rather than the second person. This is appropriate
to his attitude to the woman he desires: he wants to have complete possession of
her, and his jealous passion leads him to murder her, after which he can treat her
almost as a doll whose head he props up against his shoulder. In contrast, Shelley’s
poem is addressed to the beloved, and the speaker could be the poet, although it
need not be. It is a poem of seduction, and so by definition the speaker has not
obtained the object of his desire; he is making arguments that are supposed to
convince her to submit to his advances.
The different perspectives of the poems are also reflected in the different tenses
used by the poets. Browning uses the past tense, as he is recounting a narrative of
events that have already occurred. The speaker has already obtained what he
desires; he has already obtained complete possession of his beloved by murdering
her. In contrast, Shelley writes in the present tense, describing the phenomena of
nature which the beloved is supposed to emulate, if she accepts the arguments
made. Any consummation of the speaker’s desire in Shelley’s poem must remain in
the future, conditional upon the beloved’s being convinced.
The tone of the two poems is strikingly different. Browning is describing jealous
passion, and thus he strikes a sombre, serious tone, with plaintive lines expressing
the frustration of the speaker at the perceived weakness of Porphyria, who will not
‘dissever’ her ‘vainer ties’. There is some ironic black humour too, at the expense of
the narrator, when the reader perceives how deeply he deludes himself after the
murder, convincing himself that he has granted Porphyria her ‘utmost will’ and her
‘darling one wish’. In contrast, Shelley’s tone is playful and lighthearted. It seems
unlikely that any woman would be convinced by the arguments in themselves;
instead, the arguments are intended to prove the speaker’s wit and provoke
admiration, rather like those presented by John Donne in ‘The Flea’. In both cases,
the poet might hope to gain the object of his desire simply by proving that he is a
supremely witty fellow, rather than by making logical arguments that are beyond
refutation.
Both poets make use of natural imagery, but with very different effects. Browning
uses natural imagery to create a pathetic fallacy, whereby the stormy weather
reflects the, angry, jealous desires of the narrator as he sits alone at the start of the
poem: the wind is ‘sullen’; it tears at the elms out of ‘spite’; it ‘vex[es] the lake’.
Shelley, in contrast, makes use of natural imagery to create an argument in favour of
his beloved submitting to his desires. Because natural things ‘mingle’, so should
they; because natural things ‘kiss’, so should they. As a Romantic poet, Shelley
considered that nature should provide a model for human behaviour, although in this
poem, his deployment of this idea is much more lighthearted than in truly
philosophical works such as Wordsworth’s ‘Prelude’.
poem from ‘Love and Relationships’. (‘Love’s Philosophy’)
Robert Browning’s ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Love’s
Philosophy’ both portray erotic desire, but from very different perspectives and using
very different methods. Browning’s poem is a dramatic monologue, as the speaker is
not the poet, and there is another person involved, although they are not directly
addressed. The speaker in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ speaks about the one he loves rather
than to her, using the third person rather than the second person. This is appropriate
to his attitude to the woman he desires: he wants to have complete possession of
her, and his jealous passion leads him to murder her, after which he can treat her
almost as a doll whose head he props up against his shoulder. In contrast, Shelley’s
poem is addressed to the beloved, and the speaker could be the poet, although it
need not be. It is a poem of seduction, and so by definition the speaker has not
obtained the object of his desire; he is making arguments that are supposed to
convince her to submit to his advances.
The different perspectives of the poems are also reflected in the different tenses
used by the poets. Browning uses the past tense, as he is recounting a narrative of
events that have already occurred. The speaker has already obtained what he
desires; he has already obtained complete possession of his beloved by murdering
her. In contrast, Shelley writes in the present tense, describing the phenomena of
nature which the beloved is supposed to emulate, if she accepts the arguments
made. Any consummation of the speaker’s desire in Shelley’s poem must remain in
the future, conditional upon the beloved’s being convinced.
The tone of the two poems is strikingly different. Browning is describing jealous
passion, and thus he strikes a sombre, serious tone, with plaintive lines expressing
the frustration of the speaker at the perceived weakness of Porphyria, who will not
‘dissever’ her ‘vainer ties’. There is some ironic black humour too, at the expense of
the narrator, when the reader perceives how deeply he deludes himself after the
murder, convincing himself that he has granted Porphyria her ‘utmost will’ and her
‘darling one wish’. In contrast, Shelley’s tone is playful and lighthearted. It seems
unlikely that any woman would be convinced by the arguments in themselves;
instead, the arguments are intended to prove the speaker’s wit and provoke
admiration, rather like those presented by John Donne in ‘The Flea’. In both cases,
the poet might hope to gain the object of his desire simply by proving that he is a
supremely witty fellow, rather than by making logical arguments that are beyond
refutation.
Both poets make use of natural imagery, but with very different effects. Browning
uses natural imagery to create a pathetic fallacy, whereby the stormy weather
reflects the, angry, jealous desires of the narrator as he sits alone at the start of the
poem: the wind is ‘sullen’; it tears at the elms out of ‘spite’; it ‘vex[es] the lake’.
Shelley, in contrast, makes use of natural imagery to create an argument in favour of
his beloved submitting to his desires. Because natural things ‘mingle’, so should
they; because natural things ‘kiss’, so should they. As a Romantic poet, Shelley
considered that nature should provide a model for human behaviour, although in this
poem, his deployment of this idea is much more lighthearted than in truly
philosophical works such as Wordsworth’s ‘Prelude’.
