Starter (5 mins)

Create a spider diagram of the ways

in which love can be destructive:

Destructive

Love

Ditching your

friendsjealousy

Introducing: Porphyria’s LoverL.O. To discuss ideas/ first impressions of Porphyria’s lover

Task (5 mins)

Look at the word

cloud. Which words

stand out as a

particularly

important in your

opinion? Create a list

of at least 10 words

ChallengeDoes the vocabulary evoke a mood or atmosphere in the poem?

Write a list of 10 adjectives

you would associate with this

image e.g. bleak, dull etc.

What do you think may happen in a scene/setting like this? Write 2/3 sentences.

What kind of mood or

atmosphere is portrayed?

Write a sentence.

What could a setting like this symbolise? Write a sentence.

Tasks (5/ 10 mins)

Task (5/10 mins)Answer the following questions in full sentences:• How would you describe the image or the female figure. • How is she feeling?• Why does the image focus on beauty and appearance?

Task (5 mins)Answer the following questions in full sentences: • What is happening in this image?• How is power being demonstrated?

Porphyria’s Lover is a dramatic

monologue

Aspects of a dramatic monologue are:

(a) a speaker (but not the poet) usually

addresses an individual present; the

poem assumes there is a listener - the

reader .

(b) as the character speaks he or she

unwittingly reveals usually unpleasant

and nasty aspects of his or her character.

(c) the reader becomes increasingly

aware of the gap between what the

speaker says and the nasty underlying

aspects of his or her character revealed.

Copy this (5/ 10 mins)

Summary/Context

“Porphyria’s Lover,” which first

appeared in 1836, is one of the earliest

and most shocking of Browning’s

dramatic monologues. The speaker lives

in a cottage in the countryside. His lover,

a blooming young woman named

Porphyria, comes in out of a storm and

proceeds to make a fire and bring cheer

to the cottage. She embraces the

speaker, offering him her bare shoulder.

• You must known the narrative to the poem.• You should analyze the psychology of the character in the poem.• You could relate the themes of the poem to the play Romeo and Juliet

Robert Browning

He tells us that he does not speak to

her. Instead, he says, she begins to tell

him how she has momentarily

overcome societal structures to be

with him. He realizes that she

“worship[s]” him at this instant.

Realizing that she will eventually give

in to society’s pressures, and wanting

to preserve the moment, he wraps her

hair around her neck and strangles

her.

Summary/Context cont...

• You must known the narrative to the poem.• You should analyze the psychology of the character in the poem.• You could relate the themes of the poem to the play Romeo and Juliet

Summary/Context cont...

He then toys with her corpse,

opening the eyes and propping

the body up against his side. He

sits with her body this way the

entire night, the speaker

remarking that God has not yet

moved to punish him.

• You must known the narrative to the poem.• You should analyze the psychology of the character in the poem.• You could relate the themes of the poem to the play Romeo and Juliet

Porphyria's LoverThe rain set early in to-night, The sullen wind was soon awake,It tore the elm-tops down for spite,And did its worst to vex the lake:I listened with heart fit to break.When glided in Porphyria; straightShe shut the cold out and the storm,And kneeled and made the cheerless grateBlaze up, and all the cottage warm;Which done, she rose, and from her formWithdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,And laid her soiled gloves by, untiedHer hat and let the damp hair fall,And, last, she sat down by my sideAnd called me. When no voice replied,She put my arm about her waist,And made her smooth white shoulder bare,And all her yellow hair displaced,And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair,Murmuring how she loved me---sheToo weak, for all her heart's endeavour,To set its struggling passion freeFrom pride, and vainer ties dissever,And give herself to me for ever.But passion sometimes would prevail,Nor could to-night's gay feast restrainA sudden thought of one so paleFor love of her, and all in vain:

So, she was come through wind and rain.Be sure I looked up at her eyesHappy and proud; at last I knewPorphyria worshipped me; surpriseMade my heart swell, and still it grewWhile I debated what to do.That moment she was mine, mine, fair,Perfectly pure and good: I foundA thing to do, and all her hairIn one long yellow string I woundThree times her little throat around,And strangled her. No pain felt she;I am quite sure she felt no pain.As a shut bud that holds a bee,I warily oped her lids: againLaughed the blue eyes without a stain.And I untightened next the tressAbout her neck; her cheek once moreBlushed bright beneath my burning kiss:I propped her head up as before,Only, this time my shoulder boreHer head, which droops upon it still:The smiling rosy little head,So glad it has its utmost will,That all it scorned at once is fled,And I, its love, am gained instead!Porphyria's love: she guessed not howHer darling one wish would be heard.And thus we sit together now,And all night long we have not stirred,And yet God has not said a word!

Robert Browning

Quick understanding check (5/10 mins)

The poem is a dramatic monologue in which the

narrator confesses to a crime.

1. What is the crime?

2. Who is the criminal?

3. Who is the victim?

4. Where and when does the crime take

place?

5. What is the motive?

6. What unusual weapon is used to commit

this crime?

L.O. To understand and evaluate the language used in Porphyria’s lover.

Starter (5 mins)

Write 2/3 sentences in answer

to these questions.

• In your opinion what is this

man like?

• What do you think are his

thoughts/feelings?

Exploring the language of Porphyria’s Lover

Challenge

Is the narrator lying due to the

nature of the crime?

TaskWhat do you think about the crime? Write 2/3 sentences.

Task (5/ 10 mins)Match the words from the poem with the correct meaning.

Word in the poem Meaning in context1) sullen fireplace2) vex cut off 3) grate miserable, gloomy 4) endeavour annoy, upset 5) vainer win6) dissever strand of hair 7) prevail worldly 8) warily effort, attempt9) tress cautiously10) scorned opened11) oped greatest wish 12) utmost will despised

Word Investigation AnswersWord in the poem Meaning in context1. sullen miserable, gloomy2. vex annoy, upset3) grate fireplace4) endeavour effort, attempt5) vainer worldly6) dissever cut off7) prevail win8) warily cautiously9) tress strand of hair10) scorned despised11) oped opened12) utmost will greatest wish

Porphyria's LoverThe rain set early in to-night, The sullen wind was soon awake,It tore the elm-tops down for spite,And did its worst to vex the lake:I listened with heart fit to break.When glided in Porphyria; straightShe shut the cold out and the storm,And kneeled and made the cheerless grateBlaze up, and all the cottage warm;Which done, she rose, and from her formWithdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,And laid her soiled gloves by, untiedHer hat and let the damp hair fall,And, last, she sat down by my sideAnd called me. When no voice replied,She put my arm about her waist,And made her smooth white shoulder bare,And all her yellow hair displaced,And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair,Murmuring how she loved me---sheToo weak, for all her heart's endeavour,To set its struggling passion freeFrom pride, and vainer ties dissever,And give herself to me for ever.But passion sometimes would prevail,Nor could to-night's gay feast restrainA sudden thought of one so paleFor love of her, and all in vain:

So, she was come through wind and rain.Be sure I looked up at her eyesHappy and proud; at last I knewPorphyria worshipped me; surpriseMade my heart swell, and still it grewWhile I debated what to do.That moment she was mine, mine, fair,Perfectly pure and good: I foundA thing to do, and all her hairIn one long yellow string I woundThree times her little throat around,And strangled her. No pain felt she;I am quite sure she felt no pain.As a shut bud that holds a bee,I warily oped her lids: againLaughed the blue eyes without a stain.And I untightened next the tressAbout her neck; her cheek once moreBlushed bright beneath my burning kiss:I propped her head up as before,Only, this time my shoulder boreHer head, which droops upon it still:The smiling rosy little head,So glad it has its utmost will,That all it scorned at once is fled,And I, its love, am gained instead!Porphyria's love: she guessed not howHer darling one wish would be heard.And thus we sit together now,And all night long we have not stirred,And yet God has not said a word!

Robert Browning

Task (5/10 mins)

Write a paragraph

in answer to this

question:

In your opinion is

he insane and no

real grasp of

reality?

No pain felt she;

I am quite sure she felt no pain.

As a shut bud that holds a bee,

I warily open her lids: again

Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.

And I untightened next the tress

About her neck; her cheek once more

Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss:

I propped her head up as before,

Only, this time my shoulder bore

Her head, which droops upon it still:

The smiling rosy little head,

So glad it has its utmost will,

That all it scorned at once is fled,

And I, its love am gained instead!

Tasks (15/20 mins)1. How does the repetition of the claim in red make it less believable and why can’t it be true?

2. Bearing in mind what has happened to Porphyria, are her eyes likely to be without a stain?3. Is it possible for her body to blush at the point indicated and why would he want us to believe that she was blushing?

4. Find another description of her

in this section which is an

equally impossible description.

5. What does he believe that

Porphyria’s ‘utmost will’ was?

Find a quotation from the poem

to support your idea.

Plenary (10/15 mins)

You are the psychiatrist who has sat and heard this

tale from the speaker. Write a medical report about

your patient. You must:

• Make his insanity clear and try to back this up

with some evidence from the text.

• Make clear recommendations about how

others should be protected from him. (Suggest a

suitable treatment regime?)

E.g.

Rauceby Asylum

It is clear that the subject was suffering from

overwhelming anger even before these tragic events.

His tendency to describe even weather as “sullen” and

“spite[ful]” merely indicates his own fury at the world

and the elements within it.

Pathetic Fallacy is when a writer uses weather to suggest a

character’s emotions or the mood of the story.

The rain set early in to-night,

The sullen wind was soon awake,

It tore the elm-tops down for spite,

And did its worst to vex the lake:

I listened with heart fit to break.

When glided in Porphyria; straight

She shut the cold out and the storm,

And kneeled and made the cheerless grate

Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;

?

Pathetic Fallacy Tasks (5/ 10 mins)• What do the green words have in common?• What does it suggest about the narrator by the fact that he describes the weather in this way? • What does the blue word suggest about Porphyria?

Looking at the structure of Porphyria’s Lover

Starter (10 mins)

1. List all the methods you

can think of for

murdering someone.

2. Decide which is the best

and explain why.

3. What motives (reasons)

could you have for

murdering someone?

Write a paragraph.

Task (15/ 20 mins)

Write as much as you can in answer to the following

questions

1. Look at the sentence structures in the poem. What

type of sentence structure dominates? Why might the

poet have chosen these rather than short sentences?

2. Look particularly at the sentence length used to

describe her entrance (on line 5) “I listened with a

heart fit to break….” And the line that describes him

strangling her, (Line 36) “That moment she was

mine…”. What effect does the choice of sentence

structures add to these descriptions?

3. Look at how the poem looks on the page. Why do you

think the poet has not used verses?

4. How does the poem rhyme? Why do you think the

poet chose this rhyme scheme?

TaskOn your copy of the poem, divide it into five

sections as follows:

a) From the beginning to ‘ heart fit to break’

b) From ‘When glided in Porphyria’ to ‘And called

me.’ c) From ‘When no voice replied’ to ‘and all in

vain’.d) From ‘So, she was come through wind and

rain.’ to ‘And strangled her.’

e) From ‘No pain felt she;’ to the end of the poem.

For each section, construct a series of detailed

images, summing up where the scene takes place

and depicting the main action. For example you

might start with a man sitting quite still, alone in a

cold room in a cottage. Rain and wind.

Storyboarding Porphyria’s lover