NEED IT BY TONIGHT FAST!!!!

-- Anonymous, March 22, 2001

Answers

Justine,

Edgar Poe's use of this word (Porphyrogene) in the poem "The Haunted Palace", was intended to be suggestive of royal issue or, perhaps, the progeny of a sovereign monarch. Strictly speaking, that portion of the word, Porphyro, recalls the poem "The Eve of St. Agnes" written in 1819 by John Keats.

Keats' poem deals with a Shakespearean like drama reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet where a young woman, Madeline, falls in love with Porphyro, a young man of nobility or, at the least, some high position in the aristocracy that is suggested by the origins of his name. The word Porphyro is Greek for purple, a color traditionally recognized in the Victorian era as a color reserved for royalty. Porphyro, then, used with the suffix gene or gen, would then suggest a descendant or an offspring of royalty. Robert Frost also used a variant of this name in his 1842 poem "Porphyria's Lover."

Of course this is merely one interpretation and another very interesting one can be found on this forum on another thread.

Hope you find this useful.

Regards,

-- Anonymous, March 22, 2001

Justine,

Once again I have confused two great poets. That was not Robert Frost, it was Robert Browning. Please accept my regrets.

Regards,

-- Anonymous, March 25, 2001

I think the gene comes in with the rhyming scheme.

-- Anonymous, June 05, 2001