Merritt cheated on her husband with a 19 year old man and then one day her husband came home and her lover, Elmer, shot him. I think that in the stories he has put together with marriage most seem to be the idea that marriage doesn't last or it gets lost in other lovers. Her marriage kept its bond even though it was only able to be held by threads, he love still lasted and prevailed. Her love was obviously more powerful and held together than any of the other people in the book, excluding William and Emily's. Most of the people in Spoon River Anthology would have never done the same thing she did. Reece still loved her husband and stuck by him even if he wasn't physically there. I agree with Sam's depiction very much so. She still showed she loved him and didn't mourn about because she knew that he wouldn't want that she lived her life by a quote from the Pope saying, 'Act well your, there all the honor lies.' She knew that if she lived her life for him and their children then he would have just as much honor as if he were there with her. Through all that you could still tell she loved him beause she didn't stop loving or believing him even though so many people around town talked about what he did. Her husband was sent to prison for something that he didn't do. Marriages can seem so held together in front of people's eyes, but they're honestly mostly falling apart on the inside. Benjamen Pantier's poem, she gives her side as to how she has been through so much roughness with her husband and how he just wasn't her type but she wasn't allowed to leave him due to the town's old rules about marriage.Įven Trainor, the town druggist quotes, 'Two good people in a bad marriage.'

In Benjamen Pantier's poem, he talks of his wife being controlling. Benjamen Pantier, they talk of both of their personalities and how different they are from eachother. In the poems of Benjamen Pantier and Mrs. Through his characters, the Pantiers, I think Edgar Lee is righting to make a statement as to how even the best of people are capable of having a bad marriage. Include both the title of the poem and a quote to support what you say.

Is Edgar Lee Masters using his writing to make a statement about certain issues? On this page comment about what Masters may be saying through his characters. Some of the following themes are common in Spoon River Anthology.

Spoon river anthology best poems