Interpreting Poetry: Porphyria’s Lover

Poetry is a condensed form of literature that expresses vast meanings and feelings. This means that when analyzing poetry many aspects such as the literal meaning, poetic elements, and the metaphorical meaning should be considered. Although, not every reader is going to analyze a poem with the same ideology, a general understanding of poetic elements and the literal meaning presented throughout the poem should be similar. Professor Sutton, an English teacher at the University of Kansas, utilized his students to help interpret the works of Robert Browning. When they started to interpret the work of the “Porphyria’s Lover” the students found that there was no message presented in this poem, but realized by looking through the article that the speaker was the narrator and by looking through the details the comprised a case of assisted suicide. Yet, by using Max Keith Sutton’s article “Language as Defense in "Porphyria's Lover"”, the reader can better understand why speaker is narrating the story, who the speaker is, why the rhyme scheme importance and the literal meaning that is presented to the reader without using the metaphorical interpatation.

The primary goal of a poet is to position the reader in the position of the poet. This poem being in first person point of view provides the reader with insight into one character. Although, the poem relies exclusively on the narrative of the speaker, but as the story proceeds we are introduced with the idea of the speaker’s madness and guilt. “The speaker is narrating a past experience in a way designed to ward off a sense of guilt and to bolster his self-esteem” (Sutton). This interpretation that is presented by Professor Sutton is evident throughout the poem, especially in the last fe...

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...as the heartbeat of the character or could also be associated with the unchanging emotions that are exhibited by the character. Also, by ignoring the metaphorical and visual imagery the reader will be able to analyze the text and conclude that this story was a story of a lover saving his love. Yet, all of this information and its meanings would not have presented themselves without reading Professor Sutton’s article. By utilizing his article the reader will better be able to analyze the context that is presented and make analyzing this poem easy for the reader.

Works Cited

Browning, Robert. "Phorphyria's Lover." Roberts, Edgar V. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2008. 798.

Sutton, Max Keith. "Language as Defense in "Phorphyria's Lover"." National Council of Teachers of English (1969): 280+285-289.