Spoon River Anthology · Chapter
Widow McFarlane explained
The Widow McFarlane, a carpet weaver, reflects on the hidden pattern of life and warns those still joyfully weaving at the loom that they may one day face a terrible truth: the cloth they have woven is a shroud, and they are left alone in h
What happens
The Widow McFarlane, a carpet weaver, reflects on the hidden pattern of life and warns those still joyfully weaving at the loom that they may one day face a terrible truth: the cloth they have woven is a shroud, and they are left alone in hatred of it.
Themes in this chapter
Illusion vs. Reality
The Widow McFarlane contrasts the hopeful, beautiful illusions woven during life with the grim reality that the pattern is a shroud.
Unfulfilled Lives and Repression
The poem warns of a day of hate and terrible truth when the weaver realizes the work of their hands has led to a shroud, suggesting repressed disappointment.
Characters to notice
- Widow McFarlane
The speaker and weaver of carpets, who delivers a cautionary reflection on the hidden pattern of life.
Key passages
“For the cloth of life is woven, you know, To a pattern hidden under the loom— A pattern you never see!”
The design of your life is concealed from you as you live it.
Highlights the theme of hidden destiny or unseen truth.
“The loom stops short! The pattern’s out! You’re alone in the room! You have woven a shroud! And hate of it lays you in it!”
When life ends abruptly, you realize you have created your own burial cloth, and your hatred of that fact consumes you.
Climactic revelation of the poem's dark message.