Porphyria's Lover: by Robert Browning
Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning is a rather famous Victorian era poem. Click on the "essay page" of this website
(on your left) to access J.T. Best's analysis relative to that famous Robert Browning poem.
Porphyria is killed by her lover who strangles
her with a strand of her own long yellow hair. To justify the diabolical deed history bases the act upon the lover being a
crazed madman or sexual deviant. Nothing could be further from the truth. That well-accepted consensus, asserted under
the guise of dramatic monologue, is wrong and out of sorts with a common sense approach to interpreting the facts surrounding
the death of Porphyria. The lover's killing of Porphyria was an act of euthanasia, plain and simple, a conclusion
easily reasoned after taking the entirety of Porphyria's Lover into account as opposed to focusing
upon a few selected passages.
In early November
2005, J.T. Best began in earnest to have his more logical analysis of Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning published
by sending it to every university press, literary magazine and website that that catered to interpretative essays. Similar
to what occurred with "After Apple Picking" by Robert Frost @ http://whendarknessfell.tripod.com/ the interpretative essay J.T. Best wrote regarding Porphyria's Lover was met with much resistance, scorn and
derision (see the "comments pages" of this website).
Believing Porphyria's Lover to have been misinterpreted for well over a century, J.T. Best, created this website
to memorialize his thoughts and to correct what he perceives as a major historical literary error.
Reader
comments or criticisms regarding Mr. Best's interpretation of Porphyria's Lover or After Apple Picking are herewith
solicited so feel free to email any constructive comments to the following address and they will be posted
in the comments section of this website: veggebake@yahoo.com
After reading the poem and J.T. Best's essay and having formed your own interpretation relative the the basis for Porphyria's
death, be sure to go to the "Porphyria's Lover on Trial" page of this website and cast your vote regarding which defense you
deem most appropriate.