Prophyria's Lover is a Victorian poem written by Robert Browning. In the dramatic monologue of a man, it describes how he loves Prophyria, who has a high social status. She does not want to give up her social class to be with him. The man decides to murder his lover, when she secretly comes to visit him. If he does this she will never leave him and he will be happy. .
This is from the first five lines of his poem. "The rain set early in tonight/ 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." These lines are creating the setting of the poem. They describe the weather and how it relates to the speaker. It is rainy, dark, and windy. The storm is so violent, "it tore the elm-tops down for spite." The last line describes the man's feelings. How he is so impatient waiting for her, and that he is very sensitive about his emotions toward Prophyria. He is so sensitive that his heart is able to break because of her.
"When glided in Prophyria; straight/ She shut the cold out and the storm/ And kneeled and make the cheerless grate/ Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;/ Which done, she rose, and from her from/ Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl/ And laid her soiled gloves by, united/ Her hat and let the damp hair fall/ And, last, she sat down by my side".
This quote describes so much. The speaker feels that once his Prophyria arrives, she brings good things to him. She shuts out the cold and the storm and starts a fire. The woman then takes off her coat, her gloves and hat. The last line of this quote expresses how the man feels inferior to the woman's belongings. For, the woman takes care of all her clothes before running to him to see him. It is a implication that she was not as eager to see him.
"And 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-she/ Too weak for all her heart's endeavor/ To set it's struggling passion free/ From pride and vainer ties dissever/ And give herself to me forever.
