Mrs. Merritt
Edgar Lee Masters 1868 (Garnett) – 1950 (Elkins Park)
Silent before the jury,
Returning no word to the judge when he asked me
If I had aught to say against the sentence,
Only shaking my head.
What could I say to people who thought
That a woman of thirty-five was at fault
When her lover of nineteen killed her husband?
Even though she had said to him over and over,
"Go away, Elmer, go far away,
I have maddened your brain with the gift of my body:
You will do some terrible thing."
And just as I feared, he killed my husband;
With which I had nothing to do, before God!
Silent for thirty years in prison!
And the iron gates of Joliet
Swung as the gray and silent trusties
Carried me out in a coffin.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 38 sec read
- 130 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABCDEFGHAIFJKLBM |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 638 |
Words | 130 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 17 |
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"Mrs. Merritt" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 25 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/8666/mrs.-merritt>.
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