The images and concepts generated in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ Essay Example

the end of the poem, the mood within the final stages is that of obsessive.

The lover props Porphyria up with her head upon his shoulder and releases her hair from around her neck. The last 6 lines reveal the lovers intentions of killing Porphyria, to which he says that he has gained Porphyria's love forever and preserved it as his.There are many pictures that are created of Porphyria within the poem, one is that of she is seen as a shelter, she shuts out the cold and brings warmth with her:"She shut the cold out and the storm"Porphyria shuts out the cold and the storm when she enters the cottage; she can be seen as a shelter that secludes unhappiness and keeps it out.The use of the word "cold" emphasises the warmth that Porphyria brings with her and how she shuts it out when she enters, this not only emphasises the previous fact but it also shows us that the lover is warmed by Porphyria and that maybe he even depends on her and she protects him from the coldness.

Porphyria also seems to have a certain amount of control over her lover; she moves the lover around and seems to dominate him:"...made my cheek lie there / and spread o'er all her yellow hair"We see that she can make her lover do things by making his cheek lie on her shoulder; it seems that she dominates the lover and can make him do anything she wants.By using the word "spread" it makes it seem that Porphyria can easily and smoothly just make his cheek lie there and let her yellow hair fall around him, it

seems as Porphyria has supremacy over the lover and almost total control.

Another picture that is created of Porphyria is that she is something heavenly, like an angel:"When glided in Porphyria..."Porphyria can be seen as an angel or something holy as she enters the cottage, this dramatizes her entrance and emphasises her elegance and grace.The main word that is used is the word "glided", this signifies how she enters as if she moves without any obvious effort or aspiration. It also describes how she is seen as something beyond the normal world and to the lover she is seen as a goddess.

Provocative and of a sexual nature is another picture of Porphyria that is generated:"And made her smooth white shoulder bare"Porphyria is seen as trying to arouse the lover and she seems to try and get him to take some course of action.The use of the word "smooth" can be interpreted by saying that Porphyria is sexually aroused and is trying to get the lover on the same terms she is on at that moment by provoking him.We can see from the lover's point of view Porphyria is seen as weak, not strong enough for him:"Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour, to set its passion free from pride and vainer ties dissever"The lover describes how Porphyria is not strong enough to depend on just one lover, but others too."Dissever" and the word "free" create an image that Porphyria is trapped at her own will, that she is too weak to survive if she breaks free from other ties.

The use of the word "passion" also emphasises that Porphyria likes to have other lovers too.Porphyria also seems

to hide her true feelings for the lover throughout the poem up until the moment where he realises that she loves him:"...

at last I knew Porphyria worshipped me; surprise made my heart swell..."The lover shows that he didn't know, or wasn't sure, up until this moment that Porphyria truly loved him.

Using the word "surprise" stresses that the lover did not know for sure that Porphyria's love was true to him or he was just another lover, and now that he knows the truth the lover's feelings are heightened and emphasized even more, the use of personification and figurative language; "made my heart swell" which dramatizes and builds up the tension for the next part of the poem.Vainness is an image found within the poem of Porphyria, but only if you look at it in a deeper meaning:"In one yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, and strangled her."The lover tells us how he strangled and killed Porphyria with her hair as he wound it around her throat."Little throat" suggests that Porphyria was elegant and graceful; this could also reflect that Porphyria was vain, and after all, she died in vain too...

Porphyria's lover shows signs that he is an overreactive person, very melodramatic:"Too set its struggling passion free"The lover describes how Porphyria is too weak, he expects her to only love him in an over-reactive way. The use of "struggling" emphasizes how the lover feels about Porphyria and how he heightens the situation to himself, also the use of "set" and "free" as a metaphor makes the reader feel as though her passion is something locked up. The lover also displays an obsessive

nature of himself: "That moment she was mine, mine..."From the quote we can gather that he feels she is his, as if a child has a toy, he is obsessed with her and her love.

He keeps repeating the word "mine" which shows he feels he owns Porphyria for that moment, that she does not belong to any other lover she maybe be fraternizing with, he feels he isn't sharing her anymore in an obsessive way.We are also shown that the lover is very observant and takes in the little details:"And laid her soiled gloves by, untied"The lover reveals that he noticed her gloves were untied, as any normal or 'sane' person would maybe only take in that she put her gloves down.Though the lover has noticed her gloves, and that they were untied, he also tells us that he has seen them "soiled" or dirty. Such detail can be linked with the condition of the lover's mentality, the way he thinks and acts can also be linked to his obsessive nature and possibly prove his insanity.

Another picture created of the lover Is that he craves, or seeks, attention:"And called me, when no voice replied, / she put her arm around my waist"The lover does not reply when Porphyria calls him, this results in her seeking him herself which is possibly what the lover wanted to happen.Using the word "voice" as if in third person, though the poem is a monologue being told from first person perceptive affects the reader to an extent of creating a different atmosphere, possibly eerie and even tension building.The lover also seems to be devoid of guilt after killing Porphyria and

be empty of any sort of conscience or regrets:"And thus we sit together now / and yet God has not said a word"The lover feels he has 'got away' with his 'crime' as if saying God has not yet punished him or said anything.The use of "together now" shows that he wanted to stay with Porphyria forever, he feels that he doesn't have to share her anymore with any other lovers. It also shows that he killed her to preserve the love she showed towards him forever.

One other picture is that of the lover is rash and impetuous:"I found a thing to do"Before he said he "debated what to do", so from the above quote we can gather that he makes decisions on the 'spur of the moment' and rationally decides what to do.The use of "thing" seems to show that the lover sees what he is doing, or has done, as nothing bad or significantly evil. From his point of view, or the world as he sees it, he may think killing someone not a big thing which can define the psychotic ideas of the lover.The last picture I will point out is that the lover sees himself as the winner, or the overall triumphant lover of them all:"And I, its love, am gained instead!"From what the lover says he seems to put it in a triumphant way, as if by killing Porphyria he has acquired her love for eternity.In the lovers mind he may see himself as the winner, by the use of "gained" proves that he feels he has overcome Porphyria and conquered her love.

Within 'Porphyria's Lover' there are many symbols created,

one of which is the rain which can be seen as tears:"The rain set in early tonight"The rain is the tears of god, it could even be the foreboding of the event that is about to take place. The symbol of rain can be seen as the cleansing of the world around Porphyria as she is about to be taken from it, as Porphyria is sheltered from the rain in the cottage she is un-cleansed.Another symbol is that of Porphyria kneeling down, this could be herself surrendering:"And kneeled..."Porphyria kneeling can be interpreted as her worshipping the lover, but also along with her worshipping the lover, this could also represent her surrendering life as she is in the lover's command. Her weakness to the lover has caused, or led to, her death. Once she surrendered to him, she surrendered to life itself.

When Porphyria enters, the symbol of warmth or 'blaze' is seen, possibly following her presence:"Blaze up and all the cottage warm"The warmth that is made can be seen when Porphyria enters, this may represent that her very presence brings love and life into her surroundings.Another representation of this could be the burning desires of the lover and Porphyria, as the flame ignites this could show how their aspiration and attraction for each other switches on when Porphyria enters. Anger could be another; the lover may feel anger and fury toward Porphyria which mixes in with his love for her as she has other lovers too.

The soiled gloves Porphyria owns, to which she puts down, can show she has finished with being dirty or unfaithful to the lover in this poem: "And laid her soiled gloves

by..."Porphyria removing her soiled gloves can show she has cast her other feelings that she felt towards any other lovers away.

Another, yet significant symbol of her gloves could be that she is loose. She can just go with anyone as a glove fits a hand; it's not the hand that fits the glove.The use of Porphyria's hair as a symbolic meaning could mean that her beauty, in the end, was a danger to herself:"...and let her damp hair fall"Her beauty and her hair was dangerous to herself from the beginning, Porphyria has so many lovers due to her grace and seductiveness that in the end she was bound to meet her end by one of them.Another use of her hair could be to represent that she would die soon, as your hair grows from the roots it's considered dead from there on, this could show that Porphyria had a certain length to her life from her hair.