Leah Boyd

Mrs. Polak
Honors English 11
1 October 2014
Music and Tragedy
Weldon Keess heart-wrenching poem, A Musicians Wife, is a plaintive
monologue sorrowfully voiced by the wife of a once brilliant, but now insane pianist.
Keess use of obscure imagery, flowing, contemplative diction, and a first-person
narrative point of view all enhance the true depth of the poem. In A Musicians
Wife, Kees uses musical themes and the description of sound as an allegory for
symbolizing tragedy and the destructive emotional effects that accompany mental
illness which he experienced in his own life.
A Musicians Wife is a reflection of Keess own life. Throughout his life, Kees
experienced dealing with mental insanity and the heavy emotional toil that
followed. Much like the wife in the poem, Kees became severely depressed (Reidel),
when he had to institutionalize and eventually divorce his beloved wife, Ann
(Reidel), due to her failing mental health. Also, being only a marginally successful
musician, playwright, and writer himself, Kees characterizes his mediocre career in
line 19; The records the critics praised and nobody bought. Sadly, Kees committed
suicide, which increases the readers sympathy towards the musicians wife,
because one knows that Kees himself truly experienced the emotional agony
expressed in the poem.
Tragedy in literature is defined as where the main character is brought to
ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequenceof the inability to cope
with unfavorable circumstances (The American Heritage Dictionary). The depth and

sorrow of the poem is truly embodied in Keess use of musical themes and sound as
an allegory for tragedy. In line 6, the deranged musician plays a Chopin piece on an
old Baldwin piano. Traditionally, the works of Fredric Chopin signify sadness and are
often composed in minor keys, or keys that sound melancholy and unhappy. The
performance of Chopin is figurative of the wifes own sadness at her husbands
decline. The works of Chopin are also notorious for their difficulty, but being a
musician, the husband could probably play adequately when he was fully sane. The
bad sound is just another painful reminder to the wife that her husband was no
longer how he used to be when he was in full health. Additionally, the musicians old
records are symbols for painful nostalgia and memories. One of the only ways the
wife could even fathom her husbands dismissal of her was through listening to the
faint sound of his records. The only communication the wife has with her husband
is listening to the records he made (Siedell 175). Even the soft sound of dried
leaves against the shutters in line 27 brings back upsetting memories for the wife.
These leaves represent dead life that is moving on, but the tragic music they
create is haunting and a still-present reminder of her husbands mental illness.
Tragically, the most poignant sound is the lack of sound between the husband and
wife. The wife mourns the loss of communication between her husband and herself;
You never looked at me at all (line 11). Furthermore, this poem, filled with love
and affection, is bound to never be heard by its intended recipient.
Keess own personal tragedies, combined with his use of allegory, produce a
chilling, but deeply moving work of literature. A Musicians Wife is full of memories
and pain, yet unconditional love. The wife faces almost unbearable grief, and
laments having to institutionalize her insane husband, but still struggles to hear her
husbands voice. Keess integration of various sounds, or lack thereof, to symbolize

the wifes sadness and the tragedy of the situation creates a much more melodic
flow to his poem. The poem leaves the reader with many questions, but the one
thing that is undeniable is the emotional depth that this poem contains.

Works Cited
A Musicians Wife, Kees, Weldon
Reidel, James. "Kees, Weldon 19141955?" American Writers: A Collection of
Literary Biographies, Supplement 15. Ed. Jay Parini. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons,
2006. 133-149. Scribner Writers on GVRL. Web. 26 Sept. 2014.
Siedell, Daniel A. Weldon Kees and the Arts at Midcentury. N.p.: U of Nebraska
Literary Criticism, 2003. 175. Print.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright
2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published
by Houghton Mifflin Company.