The poem is about Porphyria unconditional love for the man, and the man's desire to capture it forever by killing her. Porphyria shows her love for him, and the image is brought by "murmuring how she loved me". The verb "murmuring" shows the gentleness of her passion for him and his supposed domination over her. Her love for him is further accentuated by "Porphyria worshipped me". The verb "worshipped" creates an image of a god or idol Porphyria looks up to with admiration. This again creates his domination over her.
This domination however, is opposed by "looked up at her eyes". The word "up" implicitly implies Porphyria's power over the man, contrasting the previous idea. The fact that the man looks up at her suggests her superiority. This ides of Porphyria being superior to him is also enhanced by "spread o'er all, her yellow hair". The wide spread hair acts as an overshadowing feature, again expressing her power over the man. Furthermore, the yellow gold colour suggests her regality and uniqueness over the ordinary mediocre man.
Moving further, the title itself creates an idea of the man's inferiority. The title "Porphyria's Lover" hides the lover's name. The fact that the man's identity is hidden, and only referred to as someone related to Porphyria, shows her importance over him. The title thus foreshadows this idea even before the reader has begun the poem. A new idea has also been introduced by the writet "for love of her, all in vain". This shows that although Porphyria loves the man with all her heart there is no mutual passion and love from the man's side. The image of all Porphyria's passion seeming meaningless portrays the man as a heartless person, forcing the reader to dislike the narrator himself and empathizing with Porphyria.
This strong love of Porphyria has been developed further with "she was come through wind and rain".
