Porphyria's Lover begins in a primarily regular rhythm, breaking occassionally, which may in fact hint at the narrator's uncertainty revealed later. The first four lines assume the rhyme pattern ABAB, then lapse with BCDCD, intermingling rhyming quartets with couplets. As the poem progresses and the reader discovers the narrator's cruel intentions and perplexed mind, the rhythm falters more frequently. Lines 39-42 give the rhyme pattern AABC, the B rhyme breaking free of all other patterns while the narrator haphazardly consoles himself by saying that he has not caused his lover pain in killing her.
The repetition in this poem is telling because not only does it foreshadow the conclusion but it tells of the circularly wild and sadistic mind of the narrator. For example, We mentions her yellow hair several times before strangling her, foreshadowing her death and the narrator's obsession alike. Also, the repetition insinuates that the narrator enjoys similarity, which may be why he kills his mistress. He has reached the epitomy of her relationship, with her love, and knows it can go no farther because it is forbidden but he doesn't want it to recede either. Thus, he kills her, and leaves her with eyes open against his shoulder, freezing her in time in love with him by killing her.
The narrator and Porphyria may not be together possibly from marriages, thus they are having an adulterous affair. This is likely causing the narrator a good deal of guilt, which is insinuated throughout the poem. He says "I listened with heart fix to break" and later thinks "a sudden thought of one so pale for love of her", discussing possibly his wife. The evidence of his guilt climaxes in the final line with his reference to God, for he is awaiting God's rebuttal for the murder but is surprised and perhaps pleased that He has "not said a word".
No comments:
Post a Comment