What is the significance of voice in Browning’s Poems?
In a lot of browning’s poems the use of voice plays a very significant part. The voice is the characteristic speech and thought patterns of a first-person narrator, or a persona. Because voice has so much to do with the reader's experience of a work of literature, it is one of the most important elements of a piece of writing.
The poem Porphyria’s lover is a dramatic monologue, so straight away we know that there will only be one voice within the poem, meaning we only get the story from the perspective of one individual. This instantly suggests that the voice is very likely going to be biased. The voice also allows us to foresee the outcome of the story told, even from the very start of the poem the description the narrator gives creates a very sinister atmosphere. Also the personification of the wind tearing down the elm trees ‘for spite’ and doing its worst to ‘vex the lake’ foreshadows the wickedness of the arguably deranged narrator. When we are finally introduced properly to the narrator in line 5 when he says ‘I listened with heart fit to break’ we get a sense that he is eagerly awaiting his lover and also gives us hints at his possessive nature. Throughout the poem as the narrator describes his lover we get a sense that he sees her very much as a possession and only mentions her beauty and looks rather than her as a person. Through only seeing porphyria through the narrators eyes browning doesn’t allow us to connect with Porphyria so less sympathy is felt when she is dead, therefore the voice in this poem is significant as it allows Browning to give a biased view on Porphyria.