Tag: vanity

Edgar Lee Masters’  “Benjamin Pantier” and “Mrs. Benjamin Pantier”

Feminine unbridled arrogance along with overweening vanity, and masculine weakness have coupled to bring about the destruction of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Pantier.

Introduction to the Pantier Sequence

Edgar Lee Masters’ “Benjamin Pantier” and “Mrs. Benjamin Pantier” from the American classic, Spoon River Anthology, portray the complaint of a husband against his wife and the wife’s response.

These two poems begin a short sequence that includes installments from “Reuben Pantier,” the couple’s son, “Emily Sparks,” who was Reuben’s teacher, and “Trainor, the Druggist,” from whom readers learn more about the dynamic of the Reubens’ marriage.

These little sequences give the entire series the feel of reading a novel. But the main emphasis continues to be on the character studies that they provide.

Benjamin Pantier

Together in this grave lie Benjamin Pantier, attorney at law,  
And Nig, his dog, constant companion, solace and friend.
Down the gray road, friends, children, men and women,
Passing one by one out of life, left me till I was alone
With Nig for partner, bed-fellow, comrade in drink.
In the morning of life I knew aspiration and saw glory.
Then she, who survives me, snared my soul
With a snare which bled me to death,
Till I, once strong of will, lay broken, indifferent,
Living with Nig in a room back of a dingy office.
Under my jaw-bone is snuggled the bony nose of Nig—
Our story is lost in silence. Go by, mad world!

Interpretive Recitation of “Benjamin Pantier”  

Commentary on “Benjamin Pantier”

While Benjamin Pantier does garner sympathy, he also demonstrates a weakness and failure to own at least part of his pathetic life path.

First Movement:  Buried with His Dog

Together in this grave lie Benjamin Pantier, attorney at law,  
And Nig, his dog, constant companion, solace and friend.
Down the gray road, friends, children, men and women,
Passing one by one out of life, left me till I was alone
With Nig for partner, bed-fellow, comrade in drink.
In the morning of life I knew aspiration and saw glory.

The speaker is Benjamin Pantier, who announces that he now lies in his grave with his dog, named Nig, who became his “constant companion, solace and friend.”  Benjamin had been an “attorney at law,” yet he now is filled with pity for himself as he describes his lonely lot.

Benjamin claims that early on his life showed great promise, “in the morning of life I knew aspiration and saw glory.”  But now he emphasizes this lonely lot; “friends, children, men and women” all left his life “one by one” until he was left with no one but Nig “for partner.”  

Second Movement:  Marriage Blighted His Life

Then she, who survives me, snared my soul
With a snare which bled me to death,
Till I, once strong of will, lay broken, indifferent,
Living with Nig in a room back of a dingy office.
Under my jaw-bone is snuggled the bony nose of Nig—
Our story is lost in silence. Go by, mad world!

Benjamin’s life looked bright until he married a woman who became the bane of his existence.  His hatred of his marriage partner led him to a soul-sickness that he could never overcome.

Benjamin now lies in the same grave with his trusty canine friend’s “bony nose” “snuggled under his “jaw-bone.”  He complains bitterly; “our story is lost in silence. Go by, mad world!”  This sentiment of Benjamin’s dramatic final command echoes W. B. Yeats’ “Cast a cold eye / On life, on death. / Horseman, pass by!” 

Mrs. Benjamin Pantier

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.

Interpretive Recitation of  “Mrs. Benjamin Pantier” 

Commentary on “Mrs. Benjamin Pantier”

Trying to set the record straight, Mrs. Pantier further demonstrates the accuracy of her husband’s complaint.

First Movement:  Her Side of the Story

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.

Mrs. Pantier begins her rebuttal to her husband’s accusation by stating that she knows what he has said about her bleeding “him to death.”  She states the issue in such a way that the reader knows immediately that she wants to share her side of the story and that it will surely not coincide with what Mr. Pantier has said.  

Mrs. Pantier then states categorically, “all the men loved him / And most of the women pitied him,” a remark that does not comport with Mr. Pantier’s claim that he was left alone.  At this point, the reader will probably doubt Mr. Pantier’s assertion.

Second Movement:   Her Obnoxious Arrogance

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.

However, after Mrs. Pantier begins her defense, the reader understands the self-importance of this woman.  Her paltry defense for driving her husband from his home is that she fancies herself “a lady” with “delicate tastes.” 

Mrs. Pantier hears strains of Wordsworth‘s “Ode” ringing in her ears, while her husband “goes about from morning till night” quoting lines from Abraham Lincoln’s favorite poem, “Mortality” by William Knox.  

For Mrs. Pantier, the British Wordsworth signals gentility and the upper-class befitting a lady, while the American Knox implies low-class individualism and struggle for a living.

Even more gratingly obnoxious is that Mrs. Pantier fancies herself “well endowed,” but legally and morally, she can indulge her well-endowed body only with a man she finds disgusting.  Thus, because of her vanity and arrogance, she feels justified in driving him from his home, causing him to live only with his dog in his office.

The Pantier Sequence

The following poems comprise the Pantier sequence of themed epitaphs begun by Benjamin Pantier:  

Benjamin Pantier
Mrs. Benjamin Pantier
Reuben Pantier
Emily Sparks
Trainor, the Druggist