Sister Maude Summary

This is a poem about jealousy and betrayal. Maude betrays her sister because she is jealous of her sister's lover. In the first verse she spies on her sister and betrays her to their parents. The lover is now dead and Maude's sister is angry with her. Maude's sister bitterly tells Maude that her betrayal was futile as her lover was never interested in Maude and would never have chosen Maude over her sister.

In betraying her sister and her sister's lover Maude has damned her own soul for eternity. We learn that the sisters' father is dead and his soul is in heaven. Their mother has died recently and is about to be accepted into heaven. The narrator believes that when she dies she will also be allowed into heaven but Maude's soul is doomed to wander the earth for...