Summary
"Porphyria's Lover" is a dark and romantic poem written by Robert Browning in 1836. The poem begins with a description of the weather—it has begun raining earlier than usual, with the presence of strong winds evident on the lake and treetops. The narrator sits in his cottage and listens to the storm in a near-heartbroken state. Just then, the woman he loves, Porphyria, walks in, drenched from the rain. She closes the windows, starts a fire to give them warmth, and shrugs off her wet and dirty outerwear. After spreading out her damp blonde hair, she takes a seat beside her lover and talks to him. When he doesn't respond, she embraces him, lets his head rest on her shoulder, and whispers sweet nothings to him. Despite her declarations of love, her pride and other minor vanities prevent her from giving herself completely over to the narrator. Despite this reluctance, the narrator acknowledges that Porphyria's desires sometimes get the best of her. For instance, she had just left a festive party and walked through the rain in order to be with the narrator, who was pining for her so much that it made him weak and pale. The narrator gazes into her happy, proud eyes and accepts that she truly loves him. This makes him glad, and he realizes that he now wants to possess all of her—her beauty, nobility, and purity. In order to keep her with him forever, he knows what he must do. He proceeds to strangle Porphyria with her own hair. She feels no pain, and he gently loosens the hair from her neck and then checks her blue eyes for signs of life. He kisses her rosy cheek and props her head on his shoulder. He reckons that she has finally achieved her heart’s desire, but she probably did not expect it to happen like this. As the poem closes, the narrator observes that they have sat together like this all night, and God has still not said a single word about it.
