Four Little Pages and Fading Ink: Robert Browning’s 1863 Fair Copy Manuscript of “Porphyria’s Lover”

Fair copy manuscript of “Porphyria’s Lover” E0386

Browning, Robert. Bells and Pomegranates, 1842pamphlet which includes “Madhouse Cells” ABLibrary Rare X 821.83 P1-III M937d

The Poetical Works of Robert Browning: Lyrics, Romances, Men and Women. By Robert Browning. London: published by Chapman and Hall, 1863 ABLibrary Rare X 821.83 L C466po 1863

Rare Item Analysis: Four Little Pages and Fading Ink: Robert Browning’s 1863 Fair Copy Manuscript of “Porphyria’s Lover”

By Ryann Wong

On May 27^th, 1863 Robert Browning wrote a fair copy manuscript of “Porphyria’s Lover”, a dramatic monologue that tracks the devolving rationality of Porphyria’s lover as he devolves toward a murderous state. The 1863 fair copy is unique in many ways. To start, it reflects key changes that Browning made to the poem since first publishing “Porphyria” in the January 1836 edition of The Monthly Repository. Additionally, this manuscript is Browning’s first recorded edit to “Porphyria” since the 1842 version was published in Bells and Pomegranates. For more on Bells and Pomegranates, see this post by Alexa Welch. Finally, this manuscript was written at the beginning of the same year that Browning published “Porphyria’s Lover” in a collection of his poems, entitled The Poetical Works of Robert Browning: Lyrics, Romances, Men and Women (1863). Both the 1842 Bells and Pomegranates pamphlet (X 821.83 P1-III M937d), as well as, The Poetical Works of Robert Browning (X 821.83 L C466po 1863), are located in the ABLibrary Rare collection and are used in this post to compare edits Browning made in the 1863 manuscript. The 1863 fair copy manuscript (E0386)is just four pages long and handwritten by Browning in fading black ink. It is housed in the Browning Collection and is the most beneficial item in this post, as it reflects changes made from earlier editions and represents edits that were later published in The Poetical Works of Robert Browning.

The 1863 fair copy manuscript, chronologically, is placed at a pivotal point. By the time Robert Browning wrote the manuscript, he had already published the two aforementioned earlier editions, which he largely, but not completely, pulled from when writing the fair copy. Additionally, the manuscript reflects similar intentional changes to the version found in Browning’s poetry book, which was published in the same year. In terms of his personal life, Browning encountered many life changes in the time between the 1842 version and the 1863 fair copy edition of “Porphyria.” During this time period, he seemingly made no changes to the poem. Robert married Elizabeth Barrett Browning and moved to Italy in 1846 and then moved back to London following her death in 1861. Just two years after he returned to London, he wrote the fair copy manuscript and made changes to the poem. Interestingly, it appears that Browning only worked on versions of “Porphyria’s Lover” when he was alone, either as a single man or a widower. Some of these key changes to “Porphyria’s Lover”, reflected in the fair copy, include title changes, an added significance to “my” in line 50 and the addition of “Happy” in place of “Proud” in line 32.

Title Changes:

One of the more obvious changes to the 1863 fair copy edition of “Porphyria’s Lover” is the title change Browning makes. Originally, Browning published the poem as “Porphyria” in 1836 but changed it to “Madhouse Cells” in 1842. Yet the title reflected in the fair copy manuscript is completely original: “Porphyria’s Lover.” This title change to “Porphyria’s Lover” is also seen in the 1863 book,The Poetical Works of Robert Browning: Lyrics, Romances, Men and Women.

The change in these titles effectively switches the focus between characters. The 1836title, “Porphyria,” emphasizes the female character by the same name. This focus on Porphyria leads the audience to be more sympathetic to the beautiful slain woman and view her as the protagonist. In turn, this portrays her lover as the selfish and cruel antagonist who has stolen Porphyria’s life and agency. However, in the 1842 pamphlet of Bells and Pomegranates, Browning lists the same work as “Madhouse Cells” and pairs the poem with another of his works, “Johannes Agricola in Meditation.” By changing the title to “Madhouse Cells” and pairing it with another poem from the male perspective and including strong religious undertones, the audience cannot help but view the poem from the perspective of the male lover who, as suggested by the title, struggles with insanity. This combination switches the focus onto the lover and garners sympathy from the audience. In this context, he is no longer made out to be the selfish antagonist but rather completely helpless to the whims of his insane desire for God’s attention. The same can be said of the 1863 fair copy change to “Porphyria’s lover;” while the title may not suggest insanity, there is a clear shift away from Porphyria’s perspective and added focus on her lover, instead.

The Significance of ‘My’:

As seen above, the “my” changes throughout the editions. The 1836 edition italicizes the “my” to draw the reader’s attention back toward the beginning when Porphyria made her shoulder bare for her lover. This effectively highlights the irony of the inverted situation and suggests a shift of agency away from Porphyria and onto her lover. However, in the 1842 edition, there is nothing that draws any attention to the “my.” This could indicate, similar to the title change, that the focus of the poem is on the lover rather than Porphyria. In this way, the insignificance of the “my” in the 1842 edition of “Madhouse Cells” intentionally ignores the opportunity to refer back to Porphyria because her loss of agency is not the primary focus. Yet, in the fair copy, Browning chooses to imitate the 1836 version by once again emphasizing the “my”and referencing back to the point when Porphyria still possesses agency. This change to emphasize “my” is also reflected in The Poetical Works of Robert Browning: Lyrics, Romances, Men and Women.

Replacing “Proud” with “Happy:”

As illustrated in the excerpts above, the 1863 fair copy manuscript marks the first time Browning changes “proud” to “Happy and proud.” The replacement with “happy” rather than “proud” seems aesthetical, to soften the line. The hyphens in the 1836 edition, along with the comma and semicolon in the 1842 version, seem to create a disjointed appearance of the line. This abrupt start and stop motion creates a more distancing and interrupted appearance. However, by including “and” after “happy” in the 1863 fair copy and book, Browning creates a smoother transition of the line. This uninterrupted transition effectively creates a more natural and organized progression of the line. By removing “proud,” we lose the repetition and emphasis on the lover’s pride, but through the inclusion of “happy,” a double syllable word is added at the beginning of the line. While all editions of this line contain a total of eight syllables, by placing the double syllable and stressed “happy” at the very front of the line, the entire rhythm of the line changes. In this way, “happy” adds stress to the first half of the line, where “proud” was unstressed.

Additionally, the inclusion of “happy” could also be seen as the deluded description of Porphyria’s eyes. This can further be substantiated by the enjambment of lines: “Be sure, I looked up at her eyes / Happy and proud; at last I knew / Porphyria worshipped me, surprise” (ll. 31-33). In this context, “happy” seems to be a descriptive characteristic of Porphyria’s adoration that the lover perceives when staring into her eyes. This perceived happiness and adoration causes the lover’s “heart to swell” (l.34) and gives the audience an insight into the deranged mind of the lover, as it is this happiness which triggers the pivotal moment where the lover “debated what to do” (l. 35).  It should also be noted that by allowing the poem to be from the lover’s perspective it is possible that the reactions of “happy” and “proud” do not, in fact, belong to Porphyria but rather to the lover himself. These two expressions could be a reflection of his own elation and pride over controlling Porphyria being reflected back at him through her eyes. The “happy” and “proud” could also be referring to the desperate need for Porphyria to view the lover with these emotions fueled by his unhealthy obsession of her.

To summarize, Browning’s 1863 fair copy manuscript of “Porphyria’s Lover” provides an invaluable opportunity to track key changes made to the poem since its first publication as “Porphyria” in the January 1836 edition of The Monthly Repository. By comparing the 1863 manuscript to earlier versions, including the 1836 edition and the 1842 “Madhouse Cells” published inBells and Pomegranates, we can see deviations and, in a few cases, a return to certain elements represented in older editions such as title or perspective. Additionally, the manuscript allows the audience the privilege to view changes made in Browning own handwriting before seeing the published result in The Poetical Works of Robert Browning: Lyrics, Romances, Men and Women (1863). Ultimately, through this manuscript, we can discern three key edits, including title changes, an added significance to “my” and the addition of “Happy” in place of “Proud.”

Though the focus of this particular post highlights the key changes made to the 1863 fair copy manuscript, there are plenty of smaller, less noticeable edits Browning made. These seemingly minute changes include edits to punctuation, title changes, and differing patterns of indentation. Through a close reading of the various editions, one could locate these seemingly minuscule edits and raise the question: How does the replacement of hyphens in Browning’s later editions of “Porphyria’s Lover” influence the poem on a large scale? Or one may want to focus on why Browning made these edits. Someone may ask: Does the change in perspectives, as seen through title changes, from Porphyria (1836) to the lover (1842) and back to Porphyria again (1863), reflect Browning’s own changing perspectives as he moved from London to Rome to Florence? These are just a few examples of big questions that we are left wondering. But it is very likely that the answers to some of these large questions can be found through a close examination of just four little pages and fading ink.

Works Cited:

Z. “PORPHYRIA.” Monthly Repository, vol. 10, no. 109, 1836, pp. 43-44. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.baylor.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/4730112?accountid=7014.