How is the story told in Browning's poem "Porphyria's Lover:

One of the main narrative devices used in this poem is perspective. This is reflected in the title, since Porphyia's lover is the speaker. This has a great effect on the story, since the audience only was Porphyria's lover's twisted account of events. One example of the speaker's twisted mind set is when they say: "No pain she felt; i'm quite sure she felt no pain" after having strangled Porphyria. This show us that the speaker is feels that was he has done is completely without fault.

Another major narrative device utilized by Browning to tell the story in this poem is imagery. One major use of this is how Porphyria is described by the speaker as an almost angelic figure. This is made apparent when is she is described as having "glided" in to the room and her hair colour being described as not blonde but "yellow". Porphyia's positive presences is bolstered even more since it is juxtaposed with the first five lines that describe a "sullen wind" which tears down trees "for spite"

Another important image used to convey the narrative is the contrast between when Porhyria rest's her lover's head on her "white shoulder", and when the lover rest the head of Porphyria's corpse on his shoulder.
This image is significant because it shows the shift in power between the two characters: at first it is Porphyria  putting her lover's arm "about her waste" and offering her "white shoulder" (with connotations of wealth and status) to rest their head on, showing clearly that it is Porphyria who is control. But she loses this control after she is killed and now her lover is the one offering his shoulder to her.