Porphyria's Lover: Love, Sex and Sin Although it is easy to say that this poem is simply a man's frightening and perverse account who cannot properly express his feelings for a woman, it is much more complex. Two major motifs in the poem, love and sin, create a feeling of contradiction. Browning uses this contradiction to explore the relationship between art and morality. The title of the poem leads the reader to believe that the speaker and the woman have been in a relationship for some time. It evokes the image of a woman secretly visiting her lover. Next, the speaker tells the reader that Porphyria "slipped" into his house and "knelt down and lit the sad grate/fire, and the whole cottage was heated" (6-9). Only someone who had visited this man's house several times would feel comfortable enough to "sneak" inside and start a fire. This confirms that this relationship is ongoing and this is not the first time the two have met. Throughout the poem, "love" is described in terms of a struggle for power, suggesting that the balance of power, dominance, and control in the relationship between this man and this woman will never be equal; that one will always fight for power over the other and over the relationship. At first, Porphyria “murmurs how much she loved [the speaker]” (21). Women in the Victorian era were expected to suppress their sexuality and ignore it completely. The woman in this poem makes it clear that Browning did not agree with this view. Although Porphyria has not been able to completely suppress her desires, as evidenced by the fact that she even went to the man's house, she tries to show some restraint. Instead of shouting or even just saying at a normal volume that she loves him, she just whispers. T...... middle of paper ......cheme, ABABB, CDCDD, EFEFF, GGHHH, etc. Although it follows a certain pattern, the rhyme scheme is a bit unbalanced. It is rich in B rhymes, D rhymes, etc. This imbalance in the rhyme adds to the idea of ​​the speaker's imbalance. The most striking thing about the form of the poem is that there is no change in the sound at any point. In describing the tumultuous storm, he uses clear language. His tone does not change when the woman enters his home; it gives no indication to the reader whether he is or is not happy that she is there. The reader expects some sort of shift in language as the man murders the woman, but the poem remains in the same rhythmic pattern. All of these details seem small and may even go unnoticed upon first reading the poem, but they add enormously to the idea that the speaker may be suffering from his own type of imbalance..