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

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCDEFGHAIFJKLBM
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 638
Words 130
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 17

Edgar Lee Masters

Edgar Lee Masters was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist. more…

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