In Robert Browning, “Propyrira’s Lover”, the use of symbolism is spread throughout the poem with the most focus on the yellow hair, the storm, and the eyes.
Yellow hair is the most memorable symbol in the poem, and the deranged speaker refers to it repeatedly. Does he have a hair fetish? Why does he choke her with her own hair? Why not a pillow or his hands? He is really messed up.
Line 13: She untied her hat and let the damp hair fall. There is no accident that he uses the word “fall”. Fallen, back in the time period this poem was written, implied sin, so it is implying that by going alone to see him, she is ready to take the next step, by being alone with him.
Line 18: All her yellow hair displaced, this is the first time he refers to it as yellow. Yellow back then was associated with angelic purity and children.
Line 20: And spread, o’er all, her yellow hair. This is the second time, in three lines that he has talked about the yellow hair; he seems just a bit obsessed with it.
Line 38-41: The speaker takes all of Porphyria’s hair, wraps it three times around her throat, and strangles her. Is her “fall” from purity, symbolic of her sin, and why he decides to kill her?
Maybe or maybe not, there are many ways to look at Robert Browning and his interpretations.
The speaker of “Porphyria’s Lover” opens by describing the storm outside. It is like the weather has a mind of its own and it is speaking to him directly; and it sets the tone of the poem.
Line 2: The words “sullen” and “awake” personify the weather. The wind can’t feel “sullen”, and it wasn’t asleep before it picks up.
Line 3: Feeling “spite”, isn’t why the wind tears up the trees.
Line 4: Now it is the lake’s turn to be brought to life. You can’t really “vex” or irritate a body of water no matter how hard you try. Nature is at work here.
Line 7: Porphyria somehow has power to turn off the storm as soon as she comes in, as if she can have that type of power. It isn’t spoken, but heavily implied.
Even though there isn’t much talking in this poem, the eyes say a lot in “Porphyria’s Lover”, and here is what they are saying.
Line 31-32: Be sure I looked up at her eyes, and he saw at that moment how happy and proud she was of him, and that she worshipped him. Her eyes said it all to him.
Line 43-44: The speaker is clearly deranged now when he says, “As a shut bud that holds a bee, I warily oped her lids: again. He uses a bizarre simile. Is he afraid of getting stung by her eyes when he opens them again? There is also use of alliteration (the b sound in bud, and then in bee) that connects the words bud and bee.
Line 45: Laughed the blue eyes without stain. Eyes don’t laugh by themselves, and what type of stain was he expecting? I would expect the eyes to have become bloodshot, if strangled, or some sign of struggle. Is he saying that she is pure once more and Porphyria’s sin is now gone? Or he has no sin, since you can’t see any stain is visible on her eyes, so he is in the clear?
Kara Carpenter
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