Perspectives On Women In Brownings Poetry Essay -- English Literature

Perspectives On Women In Browning's Poetry One of the recurring themes in the poetry of Robert Browning, is that of woman, and it is this that I have chosen to focus on. In The first of the poems I have chosen to look at, Porphyria's Lover, Browning initially portrays the female character as the one with the power, although this in inevitably removed from her. In the opening lines of the poem: 'The rain set early in tonight, The sullen wind was soon awake' we gain a sense of forboding as the landscape of the poem seems to reflect the state of mind of the narrator, this is further explored in the next two lines where the speaker describes the weather as spiteful. All the narrator can do at this point in the poem is listen to the weather outside and he is completely helpless. 'I listened with heart fit to break.' However when Porphyria enters the poem, she alters the circumstances by replacing cold with warmth and seems completely unaffected by the weather even though it is she who has been out in it. 'And kneeled and made the cheerless grate Blaze up and all the cottage warm' Porphyria's actions at this point in the poem seem effortless in direct contrast to the impotence of her lover. Porphyria continues to take charge at this point in the poem by removing the evidence of the wet, cold weather outside, and even when her lover is unresponsive she manipulates the situation, moving his arm around her and placing his head upon her shoulder. We see at this point that her lover is the weaker of the two, but this is soon altered as in the lines: 'Too weak for all her heart's endeavour, To set its struggling passion free From pride' We finally see Porphyria described as weak, ... ... be even more attractive to the poet: 'What is far conquers what is near.' These women are the most perfect in the poets eye as they are whatever his imagination is capable of creating, they are the perfect idealistic objectification. These women spring from the poet's imagination in the moment of the poem being written just as they will spring from the earth to which he has returned. 'I will make an Eve, be the artist that began her, Shaped her to his mind' In Porphyria's Lover and Women And Roses, Browning treats us to two very different poems where a woman or women are the main subject matter. However, in both poems we see that the ideal figure of woman is one who has passed or is yet to be born as then she is able to exist in the most perfect state possible, not that of a real person with flaws and free will, but in that of a pure fantasy.