Friday, October 31, 2008
"Porphyria's Lover"
As i began to read this poem I thought it was going to be a nice descent story about man and a woman. As I continued to read it seemed like he was not interested in Porphyria and wanted nothing more to do with her. The statement that made me question his love for her was, "And, last, she sat down by my side/ and called me. When no voice replied."(Lines 14-15). I thought why didn’t he answer or was there something wrong with him so he wasn’t able to answer? Backing up to the beginning I wondered why did he split up the word "To-night"(line 1), is there a specific reason which ties in with the poem some how? The next statements " The sullen wind was soon awake/it tore the elm-tops down for spite/and did its worst to vex the lake"(lines 2-4). These lines gave me an image a storm, with the wind blowing hard knocking on the trees. I looked up the word "Vex" (line 4), which means to bring trouble, which also goes with the storm and it brought trouble to the lake. I cam imagine then the waves crashing and water flying. When I continued reading from the pleasantness of not knowing the ending, to finding out that he kills her! I did not see that coming at all! One big question of this poem is how much we should consider that “Porphyria” is a disease. Is this poem actually talking about killing a disease? Or is it merely a love story horror?
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3 comments:
You and many thousands others that have gone before you have misread this poem. This poem is unequovically about uthanasia, plain and simple. Go to: http://porphyriaslover.tripod.com/index.html
Here's a "teachable moment" as they say. In our class, I encourage various interpretations but demand support to validate the claim. When this same not-so-anonymous post appeared at a different site's content about this same poem, another replied:
"where is your proof- your argument, your sources? i went on your website but cou[ld] only find you saying it was euthanasia- and then leaving at that giving me nothing to back up that statement!
prehaps i missed a link on your site- if that is the case please send me the link that contains your actual proof or at least an argument, rather than an insubstatial statement.
thanking you in anticipation" (See http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/321-Robert-Browning-Porphyria-s-Lover)
I too welcome the discussion and also look forward to some substantiating evidence.
There is no greater authority than the words contained within the poem itself. Read the poem, it is all about euthanasia. It sickens me that common sense is useless as a tool to change a perpetuated absurdity.
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