Mrs. Pantier is answering her husband’s version of their marriage. He claimed she trapped his soul, but she presents her own misery. She is a refined woman with delicate tastes who hates the smell of whiskey and onions and loves Wordsworth, while he endlessly repeats a sentimental poem she finds common. The deeper problem is physical and legal: she is a passionate woman, yet the only man she is allowed to be with is the one who disgusts her every time she sees him or thinks about intimacy. That revulsion becomes obsessive. So she drove him out, and he ended up in a dingy room with his dog. A bitter, claustrophobic mood runs through the poem. Her tone is both defensive and wounded; she feels that her refinement and sexuality have no outlet inside a marriage that repels her. It’s less an apology than a counter-accusation.
Mrs. Benjamin Pantier — Summary
I know that he told that I snared his soul With a snare which bled him to death. And all the men loved him, And most of the women pitied him. But suppose you are really a lady, and have delicate tastes, And loathe the smell of whiskey and onions, And the rhythm of Wordsworth’s “Ode” runs in your ears, While he goes about from morning till night Repeating bits of that common thing; “Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?” And then, suppose; You are a woman well endowed, And the only man with whom the law and morality Permit you to have the marital relation Is the very man that fills you with disgust Every time you think of it while you think of it Every time you see him? That’s why I drove him away from home To live with his dog in a dingy room Back of his office.