Thursday, October 15, 2015
Porphyria the Doll
It wasn't until I read "Porphyria's Lover" again that I realized that the speaker begins to treat Porphyria like a doll. In line 44 "I warily oped her lids: again" reminded me of playing with my dolls as a little girl. When you would tilt the dolls head back their eyes would close and they would only open if you forced them open with your finger. When you would set the doll back up her eyes would open, in Porphyria's case they would not of course. Also, in line 52 when the speaker says "The smiling rosy little head" this really begins to feel like Porphyria has become some sort of an object, almost as if she is not really dead to him because now she can do what ever the speaker wants. She won't be smiling too much anymore...
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Yes, nicely observed, Madison. It's interesting to assemble the various ways the women are represented as objects in the two poems we read: as dolls, as paintings, as sculptures (if we think of the delicate sea horse in "My Last Duchess" as a stand-in for a woman), etc. It invites comparisons with such other poems as "In an Artist's Studio," "The Lady of Shalott," Aurora Leigh, etc.
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