The Chair she sat in

The first line is an allusion to Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra: "The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne..." and continues in imitation of Shakespearian blank verse.

Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius, 83-30 BCE) was a member of the triumvirate that controlled Rome after the assassination of Julius Caesar. Antony established a power base in the eastern Mediterranean, where he met and became the lover of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. A civil war broke out between Antony and his fellow trumvir, Octavian. Antony and Cleopatra were defeated at the Battle of Actium, and fled to Egypt where they committed suicide.

The allusion suggests the regal nature of the female speaker in this section, and that their relationship is doomed.

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