The poem is half-humorous, half-serious. The speaker, in her imaginary
conversation, gives her own history and that of the man she thinks she
might have loved. The story is on the "Maud Muller" motive, but with
less of sentimentality. The setting suggests the life of art students
in Paris, or in some Italian city. The poem is a plea for the freedom
of the individuality of a soul against the restrictions imposed by
conventional standards of value. Its touches of humor, of human
nature, and its summary of two lives in brief, are admirably done. Its
rhymes sometimes need the indulgence accorded to humorous writing.