What was the meaning of the poem Bluebeard by Edna St Vincent Millay?

Answer 1

The poem was written based off of the Short story "Bluebeard." Millay uses the original story to portray her ideals about relationships, because she was an open Bisexual. She was a huge believer of the importance of privacy, and once you violate this trust, there is no going back, this is why in the poem, the woman leaves the man. She flips the characters also because in her time period, there were no strong woman characters in Literature, so she made the man betray the woman so the woman could leave the man. A paraphrased version of the poem is:

You opened a door you should have left closed;
So go in and see what you were so curious about
There is no treasure in this room.
Nor is there a cauldron or mirror.
No dead women, killed for what you have done.
There is only what you see.
An empty, old, dirty room, not nice or comfortable.
I kept this space separate for a reason.
You ruined it when you came, and insulted me
when you came in here.
I did not wish to see you here.
So this room now is yours and I will go somewhere else.