Summary

This poem begins with the speaker saying that his old landlady was quite bad compared to the current one that he is speaking to. The old landlady rented out parts of her bed and breakfast to tenants. She would tell the tenants not to look at the sea, as it is bad luck. She explained that people came to her house to forget their problems. This is something that the English do. She compared this to someone chopping their girlfriend up because she is pregnant or someone poisoning the banker they are sleeping with. The narrator stayed in the house for three weeks before telling the landlady that he intended to leave. The landlady gave the narrator a drink of whisky and tried to seduce him. He later attempted to knock on her bedroom door. The narrator then passed out instead, clearly...