Robert Browning: Porphyria’s Lover
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/ (Lines 15-19) Lines fifteen through nineteen are important to this particular poem because it portrays an important image of motionless movement of the speaker and Porphyria’s affectionate movement. The speaker indicates “And called me. When no voice replied (15)” that he doesn’t answer to Porphyria at all, which indicates that this statement is passive. The fact that the speaker doesn’t speak is odd and indicates that there is distance among the two. Also maybe this is a way of showing that he is disturbed in his mind about what he is about to do. In lines sixteen through nineteen these particular lines are significant to the poem because it give an image of Porphyria’s affection through her movements. Examples of her affection are, “She put his arm around her waist (16)”, “hair displaced (18)”, “made her smooth white shoulder bare (17)”. In line sixteen instead of the speaker putting his hand around her waist, she does it. This gives an image that she’s giving herself to him, that she’s his. A women’s hair is her glory, so by her “displacing” it gives me an image that she glorified the speaker more. Although she is showing much affection the speaker is motionless according to the reading. When something is motionless, one usually thinks of being dead or a corpse. This motionless can express Porphyria’s
