The speaker in Edgar Lee Masters’ “Sarah Brown” Spoon River Anthology is one of the most positive characters of the lot; although it is hinted that she committed adultery, she emphasizes “love” over sex. It was her husband who called her love for Maurice “guilty love,” but since her marriage apparently remained intact, it is not clear that she actually experienced a sexual liaison with the grieving Maurice.
First Movement: “Maurice, weep not, I am not here under this pine tree”
Sarah Brown addresses Maurice, as he mourns at her grave side. She reveals to him that she is not in the grave “under this pine tree.”
Second Movement: “The balmy air of spring whispers through the sweet grass”
To prove to Maurice that she, that is her soul, is not confined to the dark, dank hole in the ground, she describes the setting above ground: the stars are out and a bird is singing. She asserts that Maurice is mourning “while [her] soul lies rapturous / In the blest Nirvana of eternal light!”
Sarah Brown exemplifies a Spoon River resident whose soul has evolved to a higher realm than most of the other complaining deceased of the town. Instead of railing against the unfairness of the small minded folks among whom she lived, as so many others do, she reveals a very positive, even-minded attitude, and she tries only to console those left behind, especially Maurice who has come to her grave to mourn.
Third Movement: “Go to the good heart that is my husband”
After attempting to relieve Maurice’s grief, Sarah Brown commands him to go to her husband “who broods upon what he calls our guilty love.” She describes her husband as “the good heart” and continues to think of him as her husband still, even though she has departed earth, and despite the claim she later makes in the final movement.
Another indication that Sarah Brown is influenced by Eastern philosophical thought is that she focuses primarily on action in the present tense, the “eternal now,” as referred to in Buddhism.
Fourth Movement: “Tell him that my love for you, no less than my love for him”
Sarah Brown then reveals the message she wishes Maurice to deliver to her husband. She wants her husband to know that her love for both men has been instrumental in shaping who she has become, that is, that love has “wrought out [her] destiny.”
She clarifies that “through the flesh / [she] won spirit, and through spirit, peace.” Her infidelity was no mere ordinary dalliance prompted by greed, but because of her heightened awareness played a role in leading her soul to divine union.
Fifth Movement: “There is no marriage in heaven”
Finally, Sarah Brown reveals that “There is no marriage in heaven / But there is love.” Sarah Brown became a free spirit while living and thus concludes from heaven that if love is supreme in the afterlife, then marriage cannot confine love while on the earth plane.
Linda Sue Grimes - As a writer, researcher, and SRF devotee, Linda Sue Grimes has studied poetry and practiced Kriya Yoga for over thirty years..
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