Porphyria's Lover is a dramatic monologue, a poem in which a speaker talks to a silent listener about a dramatic event or experience. Browning is considered to be one of the earliest and greatest practitioners of this form, and Porphyria's Lover is his first poem in this style. The dramatic monologue offers readers intimate insight into the speaker's changing thoughts and feelings because he presents in his own words how he sees and understands the situation he discusses. However, as becomes clear in Porphyria's Lover, much of what the reader learns about the speaker of the monologue comes not from the speaker's own revelations but from what he does not say. The speaker in Porphyria's Lover, for example, never declares that he is mad, but the reader infers from his words that he must be.
Though the poem is described as an early experiment in dramatic monologue, it will be better to call it a lyrical monologue, or interior monologue as in a stream of consciousness novel. Here the speaker is only thinking aloud; he is not trying to carry conviction to another person in the scene, as is usual in a typical dramatic monologue. This poem is therefore more in the nature of a lyrical monologue or interior monologue, which may not be addressed to any other character who may be there close to the speaker. Porphyria's Lover is a dramatic lyric of a pale lover, who is loved by Porphyria. She could not marry him because of the false family pride and social distinctions and barriers. One night when it was raining heavily and the fierce wind was blowing, she left the feasting at her castle and visited her lover. The lover's heart swelled with pride and joy when she made him believe of her sincerity in love. In order to immortalize that moment of happiness, he strangled her with the tresses of her long golden hair. He kissed her rosy cheeks and raised her head but as it was lifeless, it rested on his shoulder. He and his beloved remained seated in the same position throughout the night. The death of Porphyria is tragic, but it also constitutes a satire against social conventions and barriers which stand in the way of sincere lovers. Porphyria was very happy even in her death because the family pride and social barriers could no more stand in the fulfilment of her greatest wish:
“Her head, which droops up on it still
The smiling rosy little head,
So glad it has its utmost will,
That all it scored at once is fled.”
H.C. Duffin writes, “Porphyria’s Lover" is as beautiful as its title. Having been published first as one of the two “Madhouse Cells”, it is generally regarded as an essay in the macabre, the words “and strangled her”, so strikingly placed, being read literally. It would evidently make the picture more pleasing if we could take them to mean “pretended to strangle her”, and since the rest of the poem favours this reading I do not see why we should not get pleasure instead of horror out of the poem. Browning is apt to be realistic in his details, and the sentence, “again laughed the blue eyes without a stain”, does not sound like an exact description of a girl's appearance after she has been strangled, nor would her cheek blush bright under a kiss:
“And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word.”
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