After reading the work of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, I had to go and directly read the work of her husband, Robert, whom the love sonnet was about. I wanted to learn a little about the man that inspired her to write such beautiful poems. After reading the notes about his life, I thought it was interesting that he did not want people to ever guess his work was his. He wanted to hide behind a mask, which I suppose gives them the privacy needed to write without any worries about how the public will perceive them. As an artist, I am sure it is best when you can write things without ruining your personal and private life, so for this, I respect his efforts.
When I read "Porphyria's Lover," I immediately remembered it from high school. The poem starts off so lovingly. It has the suttle hints of the struggle of the relationship, but then, it appears out of no where, he strangles the woman who came to tell him she loved him in the middle of the night in the pooring rain. After he knows this, he is happy. Her presence warmed him, and he was glad to know she loved him. However, I am only to guess that this man only wanted to be sure she never changed. I never did really understand why he killed her, but I can only guess that love made him crazy.
His work seems twisted. "Love Among the Ruins" was another example. He writes, "Lust of glory pricked their hearts up, dread of shame struck them tame; And that glory and that shame alike, the gold bought and sold," (669). In this line, you can see how he like to pair words together that would usually be used in different contexts. He says "lust of glory pricked their hearts," and them says that "glory and that shame alike the gold bought and sold," (669). I find his work to be constantly on the edge between sanity and reality. I do not fully understand what he is trying to say, but then again I wonder if I really want to.
3 comments:
Caitlin,
Good close reading of Robert Browning's "Love Among the Ruins"--I agree that he is a very challenging poet to understand. I wish your discussion of "Porphyria's Lover" had been as specifically connected to the text, though.
I like the the fact that you were able to understand the need for privacy when they were really showing their love and affection for each other publicly through their poems in which they communicated with one another.
You know the Brownings are two of my very favorite poets, but they are so different from one another. I love it when people say things like, "Elizabeth's poetry was so warm and loving, I just had to read her husband's poetry" then they read something like "Porphyria's Lover." I just makes me smile, because so amny people go in with the expectation that hee too is warm and loving, but that is certainly not the case. I'm glad you enjoyed both of the,. even though he is a bit more challenging to understand :-)
Post a Comment