Elizabeth and Robert Browning seem to have 2 very different concepts of love. Elizabeth’s poem, Sonnet 43, shows you an all-consuming truly devotional love toward another person. This person makes your day brighter and gives you butterfly’s in your stomach at the mere thought of them.
Robert Browning’s poem, Porphyria’s Lover, shows you a darker side a love. This love is unhealthy, tempered by jealousy and a need to control another person’s thought. This type of love is dangerous and as shown in the poem can end tragically.
I think Elizabeth’s poem is fantasy, or drug induced euphoria, because while you can love another person, it should never consume who YOU are as a person. Robert’s poem, while completely dark is more in line with human nature. People are imperfect, they are passionate and calm and jealous and understanding. People are complex and sometimes that complexity leads to tragedy.
Humanities 101 