Summary GCSE LITERATURE (AQA) - PORPHYRIA'S LOVER - EXAMPLE ESSAY
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Course
English
Institution
GCSE
This document includes a well written example essay of the poem Porphyria's Lover. It has a summary of the poems meaning as well as a few keywords followed by 4 well crafted paragraphs. Each paragraph has at least one quotation explained in depth.
PORPHYRIA’S LOVER
Poem is a dramatic monologue, the speaker appears to be engaged in a love
affair with a woman named Porphyria. He seems depressed and uncertain
she loves him but by the end realises she does and murders her with her own
hair.
-delusional,narcissistic,unstable
Towards the start of the poem, the speaker seems to feel depressed and
completely sorrowful. When mentioning the weather, he describes listening to
the rain with a “heart fit to break” which depicts him as heart broken and
miserable. The use of pathetic fallacy and the idea of rain further creates a
morose and melancholic mood. This gives us the impression that the speaker
is stuck in a rather sombre state of mind at this point, making us wonder
what he is actually capable of doing. He further describes the way in which
Porphyria “glided” in and “shut the cold out” which conveys the idea that she
makes him feel better. The speaker seems to enjoy the way she makes him
feel and could be using her as a distraction from his own mind. Furthermore,
the use of the verb “glided” could portray Porphyria’s actions as rather
supernatural which could highlight the speaker’s madness and irregular state
of mind. Perhaps the poet represents Porphyria in this way as, in reality,
porphyria is a disease which leads to hallucinations which suggests Porphyria
is actually adding to the speaker’s unstable state of mind rather than
supporting it.
Further down the poem, the speaker seems obsessive over Porphyria and
only seems to focus on her and her actions. When describing the scene, he
mentions the way in which her “damp hair falls” and the way her “yellow hair
displaced” which highlights his strong fixation over her and her actions. The
repeated focus on her “hair” acts as a symbol of sexuality, suggesting the
speaker desires intimacy with Porphyria. Perhaps the speaker feels this way
because he believes this will distract him and rather sooth him from his
current state of mind, allowing him to feel joy and delight through Porphyria
and her body. The speaker's fixation over Porphyria and her actions is rather
unusual because he seems to be the one watching and doing nothing, during
the era in which this poem was written this would have challenged gender
stereotypes as the man of the relationship was typically in charge. On the
whole this presents the speaker as crazy and irregular, as he seems to be
analysing Porphyria’s actions in order to decide what he believes about her
feelings of their relationship and the role in which she plays.
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