"Porphyria's Lover" As Tableau Vivant
The mirrored effect produced by Porphyria's modelling of the persona in the first half, and the persona's reciprocal modelling of her after strangulation is indicative of a popular Victorian art form called Tableaux Vivant in which humans were used as art in order to recreate actual paintings. This is indicative of the allegorical content of "Porphyria's Lover" in which both characters imitate the process of artistic creation: when art is created or published, it is dead and forever unchanging. In the last few lines of the poem, Porphyria is manipulated in much the same way as the speaker was in the first few lines of the poem. Tennyson shares similar ideas in "The Lady of Shalott", as do other Victorian authors who contribute to the popular conversation about the artistic processes.
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Famous quotes containing the word lover:
“for never yet
Has lover lived, but longed to wive
Like them that are no more alive.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)