Starter (5 mins) Create a spider diagram of the ways in which love can be d estructive: Destructiv e Love Ditchin g your friends jealous y Introducing: Porphyria’s L.O. To discuss ideas/ first impressions of Porphyria’s lover
Jan 04, 2016
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