The poems “Porphyria’s Lover” and “The Last Duchess” written by Robert Browning explain crimes of passion through the eyes of their perpetrators. These men are the lovers to Porphyria and the Duchess, respectively, who commit similar crimes of passion. However, as Browning changes his diction and prosody from poem to poem, their differences become more clear. Moreover, Browning’s differences in diction and prosody between “Porphyria’s Lover” and “The Last Duchess” help contrast the Duchess to Porphyria, and, in turn, helps characterize their lovers and their motives for murder.
In “Porphyria’s Lover,” upon first glance, Porphyria seems like an affectionate, caring woman, however, the narrator has a different view. At the beginning, Porphyria’s …show more content…
In “Porphyria’s Lover,” the normal iambic tetrameter is often broken to stress important events in the narrator’s thoughts. The importance of the line breaks help demonstrate the narrator’s development as the poem continues. At the beginning, the narrator is unsure of himself and his relationship with Porphyria, showing his second change in meter as he states that Porphyria was, “Murmuring how she loved [him].” (“Porphyria” 21) This line begins with a stressed syllable to emphasize the narrator’s concentration on Porphyria’s love for him as he is mad that she did not express her love with “all her heart’s endeavor.” (“Porphyria” 22) This line also stresses the narrator’s insecurities regarding his relationship to Porphyria as endeavor has a double stress to indicate that she is not putting her full effort into expressing her love for him. These stresses begin to show a change in character as the narrator begins to shift from being insecure to becoming the man who will be with Porphyria “forever.” (“Porphyria” 25) This change from the use of stresses to the use of syllables show his transition into becoming a confident individual with a love that he knows will last. He continues to express these emotions again as he shifts from stressing the negative words of regret to beginning lines with words amongst the likes of “happy” and “perfectly,” both of which begin with stressed syllables (“Porphyria” 32,34). This use of prosody helps the reader understand the narrator’s shift in character better, while investigating his true insecurities. The narrator continues this shift by saying that by killing her, Porphyria would become, “[his, his] fair,” as he knows that now he will have Porphyria for the rest of his life and not risk losing his fair lady (“Porphyria” 36). Finally, as the narrator knows that he can have this love forever, he concentrates on Porphyria’s expression of love as he describes her “blue eyes” as they
In “Porphyria’s Lover,” upon first glance, Porphyria seems like an affectionate, caring woman, however, the narrator has a different view. At the beginning, Porphyria’s …show more content…
In “Porphyria’s Lover,” the normal iambic tetrameter is often broken to stress important events in the narrator’s thoughts. The importance of the line breaks help demonstrate the narrator’s development as the poem continues. At the beginning, the narrator is unsure of himself and his relationship with Porphyria, showing his second change in meter as he states that Porphyria was, “Murmuring how she loved [him].” (“Porphyria” 21) This line begins with a stressed syllable to emphasize the narrator’s concentration on Porphyria’s love for him as he is mad that she did not express her love with “all her heart’s endeavor.” (“Porphyria” 22) This line also stresses the narrator’s insecurities regarding his relationship to Porphyria as endeavor has a double stress to indicate that she is not putting her full effort into expressing her love for him. These stresses begin to show a change in character as the narrator begins to shift from being insecure to becoming the man who will be with Porphyria “forever.” (“Porphyria” 25) This change from the use of stresses to the use of syllables show his transition into becoming a confident individual with a love that he knows will last. He continues to express these emotions again as he shifts from stressing the negative words of regret to beginning lines with words amongst the likes of “happy” and “perfectly,” both of which begin with stressed syllables (“Porphyria” 32,34). This use of prosody helps the reader understand the narrator’s shift in character better, while investigating his true insecurities. The narrator continues this shift by saying that by killing her, Porphyria would become, “[his, his] fair,” as he knows that now he will have Porphyria for the rest of his life and not risk losing his fair lady (“Porphyria” 36). Finally, as the narrator knows that he can have this love forever, he concentrates on Porphyria’s expression of love as he describes her “blue eyes” as they