Symbol Analysis
Porphyria and her lover spend most of the poem cuddling by the fire. Of course, she's dead for half of it, and their positions get reversed, but still: there's not a lot of movement in this poem. Let's take a look at how they're positioned…
- Line 16: Porphyria is the active one here: she physically takes the speaker's arm and pulls it around her "waist." He just sits there like a lump and lets her rearrange him.
- Line 19: Again, Porphyria is active, and the speaker is passive. She's the one to pull his head down against her shoulder.
- Line 31: Here, exactly halfway through the 60-line poem, the speaker finally does something active. He turns and "looks up" at Porphyria's face.
- Lines 49-50: Now the speaker is the active one – their positions are reversed. Porphyria's head now leans against his shoulder, and he's the one rearranging her limbs.