Though the poem is quite strange upon first reading it, I found Robert Browning’s Porphyria’s Lover to be a wonderful poem about the “God complex” of one man. Although others may interpret this poem differently, after I read over it a couple of times, I felt that the part that stood out the most to me is not really the fact that the man in the poem kills Porphyria, but rather the care and awkward “love” that he puts in to killing her. The man speaks with the deepest sincerity of his actions and how the actions of Porphyria. The way that he describes her shows that he cares about her and loves her. Lines 31 through 36 are the most intriguing lines of the entire work in my eyes.
Be sure I looked up at her eyes
Happy and proud; at last I knew
Porphyria worshipped me; surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew
While I debated what to do.
That moment she was mine, mine, fair,
It is in the lines that follow these that he kills Porphyria by strangling her with her own yellow hair. The way that I read into this poem is that once he knew that she “worshipped” him and he was sure of it, he developed somewhat of a God-complex and wanted for her to remain that way forever and therefore he felt that he had to kill her. Another reason that I felt this way about what Browning was trying to get at in the poem is because of the last three lines of the poem which state:
And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word!
These lines again make me think of a God-complex because the two of them are sitting in silence together and he says that God has not spoken. Perhaps I am thinking of the poem in a way that others do not, but I find the God-complex to be the deepest issue of this poem.
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4 comments:
Jared,
Interesting discussion of Browning's poem, with good quotations for discussion. It might have been helpful for you to define what you mean by "God-complex" though--you refer to it several times, but don't define it.
From my understanding of your blog, I'm assuming that you mean that the speaker of the poem thinks of himself as being like God and having the powers of God. I liked your analysis of this poem because it was different from what others are saying. Good ideas and good quotes.
Jared,
I missed the God-complex idea from Browning's poem, but I liked that you looked at it from a different point of view. I saw the speaker as one who was trying to preserve these feelings. It kind of reminded me of Keats's Grecian Urn concept.
Jared,
Great Job! You really did a good job on the quotations in your posting.
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