Summary

The poem begins with the unnamed speaker announcing that his beloved will eventually kill him with her "scorn" (1). He refers to her as a "murd'ress," and assures her that when she thinks he is gone for good, he will return to her as a ghost (1). Appearing at her bedside, he will see her sleeping next to another man. When she notices the ghost, the speaker says, she will be so terrified that she will turn to her companion for help. But, the speaker cautions, the man will only think she is interested in having sex, and he will turn away from her.

The speaker asserts that once the man turns away from her, she will experience the pain of rejection at the same time she experiences the fear of the apparition. The woman will be "Bath'd in a cold quicksilver sweat" that will render...