Porphyria's Lover Analysis

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Iambic TetrameterThe meter of "Porphyria's Lover" is fairly regular iambic tetrameter. Wait: before you zone out, let us explain. The meter refers to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllable...

The speaker of "Porphyria's Lover" sounds awfully straightforward. His tone is incredibly reasonable, which makes it even creepier considering he's describing horrific things (such as strangling hi...

The poem takes place in a house near a lake, probably out in the country somewhere. There are trees around, and it's probably a pretty nice place to visit when the weather's good. Too bad the weath...

"Porphyria's Lover" is so rhythmic that it's easy to be drawn in. The poem seems designed to lull the reader into complacency: "It's just another love poem! Look, the lovers are snuggling by the fi...

We should really ask, "what's up with the titles?" since "Porphyria's Lover" has had several different names since its first publication in 1836. Originally, it was published in a magazine as "Porp...

Murdering beautiful women and then admiring their beautiful corpsesIf you think that "Porphyria's Lover" is Browning's only dramatic monologue in which the psychopathic speaker murders a beautiful...

(3) Base CampThe language isn't all that difficult in "Porphyria's Lover," and the speaker's matter-of-fact tone means short, simple sentences. Thematically, the poem gets a bit trickier – ho...

Robert Browning fell in love with the poetess Elizabeth Barrett after reading her poems, and then married her against her father's wishes. The couple moved to Italy to avoid the worst of her father...

REven though there's no graphic sex in this poem, we have to give it an "R" rating for the fetishism, the extra-marital affair, the murder, and the necrophilia. It's fair to say that those all add...

Historical ReferencesSome critics believe that "Porphyria's Lover" was inspired by a murder that was described in gory detail by John Wilson in 1818, only eighteen years before Browning wrote this...