Charlotte Mew - The Farmer's Bride

Question 1

What is the poem about?

Answer 1

• The poem is about a farmer who marries a young girl who eventually runs away.
• She is chased down by people from the area and brought back to the farm.
• The farmer’s bride doesn’t engage with her husband and is clearly miserable.

Question 2

Give a brief synopsis of the poem

Answer 2

• The farmer relates how three years ago he chose a bride who even he admits was too young.
• Once married she became fearful of her husband
• Eventually she ran away across the farm
• The farmer and others chased her and eventually caught her
• When brought home they locked the door on her
• The farmer now says how she meekly does the housework and is happy to be part of nature
• As it becomes winter, the farmer laments the fact that she will not give him a child
• He then complains about the physical distance between them and objectifies her

Question 3

When was the poet alive?

Answer 3

• 1869-1928

Question 4

When was the poem written?

Question 5

Context regarding Charlotte Mew

Answer 5

• Mew’s family were upper middle class and her parents had many children.
• However, three died young and two experienced mental illness from when they were little.
• The impact of these experiences on Mew influenced her work heavily, and is reflected in the darker undertones of her poetry. * Mew apparently made a pact with one of her sisters to never marry out of fear of becoming mentally ill, or passing on mental illness to their children.
• The poem was written at a time where issues were beginning to be raised about the way in which men possess women.
• At the time, suffrage was beginning to gain prominence so Mew is expressing her view that women shouldn’t have their identity tied to their husband.

Question 6

“Three Summers since I chose a maid,”

Answer 6

• The first line is straight to the point - shows that the speaker feels no guilt for their actions
• “maid” often taken to mean virgin - highlights her young age and vulnerability
• Relates to the title, as she’s never transition from being his “bride” to “wife” through the act of consummation - suggests the relationship is empty and pointless

Question 7

“Too young maybe - but more’s to do”

Answer 7

• Use of hyphen shows that the relationship is not important to the speaker

Question 8

“At harvest-time than bide and woo.”

Answer 8

• Farmer’s busyness means that he does not have time to get to know his wife
• Additionally, the countryside can be often considered a metaphor for fertility

Question 9

“When us was wed she turned afraid”

Answer 9

• Informal language - shows the farmer’s idiolect

Question 10

“Of love and me and all things human;”

Answer 10

• Use of syndetic listing here creates a disjunct rhythm to represent

Question 11

“Like the shut of a winter’s day”

Answer 11

*

Question 12

“Her smile went out, and ‘twasn’t a woman -“

Answer 12

*

Question 13

“More like a little frightened fay.”

Answer 13

• Uses fricatives in “frightened fay” to emphasise the hardness of the wife’s treatment
• “fay” means fairy which shows how she is more childlike than a woman and finitely not old enough to enter an adult relationship

Question 14

“One night, in the Fall, she runned away.”

Answer 14

*

Question 15

“‘Out ‘mong the sheep, her be, ‘ they said,”

Answer 15

• “her be” - continuing use of a farming idiolect adds to the authenticity of the poem

Question 16

“Should properly have been abed;”

Question 17

“But sure enough she wasn’t there”

Question 18

“Lying awake with her wide brown stare.”

Answer 18

• “wide brown stare” likens her to a vulnerable animal

Question 19

“So over seven-acre field and up-along”
“across the down”

Question 20

“We chased her, flying like a hare”

Answer 20

• Harsh, hunting-like connotations - farmer doesn’t at any point question why she has run away, he instead jumps straight to solving the problem - shows him to be more functional than emotional and makes a point about men marrying to fulfil expectations

Question 21

“Before our lanterns. To Church-Town”

Question 22

“All in a shiver and a scare”

Answer 22

• Sibilance in “shiver” and “scare” creates an ominous tone surrounding her returning to the farmhouse

Question 23

“We caught her, fetched her home at last”

Answer 23

• This demonstrates that she is treated in the same way the farmer would treat an animal that had run away

Question 24

“And turned the key upon her, fast.”

Answer 24

• “fast” is a homonym which could be that she was locked securely as well as the speed needed to contain her

Question 25

“She does work about the house”
“As well as most, but like a mouse;”

Answer 25

• Enjambment continues the line, however, to show that she only seeks solace in nature and is still isolated?
• Simile makes her seem quite and timid
• He never views her as a human being, only another animal he can own

Question 26

“Happy enough to chat and play”
“With birds and rabbits and such as they,”
“So long as men-folk keep away.”

Answer 26

• It is sad that she is unable to communicate her fears out loud

Question 27

” ‘Not near, not near!’ her eyes beseech”

Question 28

“When one of us comes within reach.”
“The women say that beasts in stall”
“Look round like children at her call.”
“I’ve hardly heard her speak at all.”

Question 29

“Shy as a leveret, swift as he,”

Answer 29

• A leveret is a young hare, so this characterises her as vulnerable and flightly

Question 30

“Straight and slight as a young larch tree,”

Answer 30

• Sibilance in “straight and slight” shows despite the beauty of nature, he compares her to, there is a maliciousness behind this simile

Question 31

“Sweet as the first wild violets, she,”

Answer 31

• This shows that he is not thinking straight and also contrasts with his wife’s affinity for nature??
• This simile used here shows that the farmer loves his with but still does not see her as a person

Question 32

“To her wild self. But what to me?”

Question 33

“The short days shorten and the oaks are brown,”

Answer 33

• He is wishing for a baby here
• This use of patronising sarcasm increases the listener’s dislike for the farmer - he is upset that despite there being little physical distance between them, she is not close to him
• He never questions why this is, this could also be a statement by Mew that women speaking out against men is not unfounded and only their bad experiences have made it necessary
  check where these flashcards go!!!

Question 34

“The blue smoke rises to the low grey sky,”

Answer 34

• Pathetic fallacy shows that everything is getting darker
• Also shows how time has passed and they have been together for a long time

Question 35

“One leaf in the still air falls slowly down,”

Answer 35

• The description of “One leaf” shows that the speaker’s field of vision has narrowed and he is becoming increasingly obsessive

Question 36

“A magpie’s spotted featehrs lie”

Question 37

“On the black earth spread white with rime,”

Question 38

“The berries redden up to Christmas-time.”

Question 39

“What’s Christmas-time without there be”

Question 40

“Some other in the house than we!”

Question 41

“She sleeps up in the attic there”

Question 42

“Alone, poor maid. ‘Tis but a stair”

Answer 42

• The farmer is beginning to indulge in self pity here despite his isolation being his own fault

Question 43

“Betwixt us. Oh! my God! the down,”

Question 44

“The soft young down of her, the brown,”
“The brown of her - her eyes, her hair, her hair!”

Answer 44

• It’s like she’s his child or servant not his wife
• Here she is both infantilised and sexualised which implies that the farmer as a paedophilic obsession with her

Question 45

Describe the significance of the title

Answer 45

• she is referred to as his “bride” rather than “wife” showing how their relationship has not developed since marriage
• the famer himself is also not given an identity which links to the later presentation of him as uneducated
• she is referred to her in reference to her husband and is presented as his possession

Question 46

Describe the perspective the poem uses

Answer 46

• The poem is from the farmer’s perspective, preventing his bride from having a voice.
• The farmer’s perspective appears self centred as he relates the events to his own feelings about it.
• Mew mixes the past and present which reflects the deeply personal and idiosyncratic writing style that Mew is known for.

Question 47

Describe the opening of the poem

Answer 47

• “The Farmer’s Bride” begins with the temporal deixis “Three summers since” to give the impression of their relationship dragging out.
• The speaker admits that his wife was “Too young maybe” which establishes from the outset the fact that she is innocent and victimised.

Question 48

Describe the structure of the poem

Answer 48

• The poem shows the farmer progressively becoming more despondent about his marriage.
• At no point however, does he try and solve his problems by caring for his wife. In the final stanza, there is a range of punctuation used to manipulate the rhythm which reflect the troubles experienced between the couple in their relationship.
• This contrasts with the farmer’s desire for his wife showing how he likes the idea of marriage but not the reality.
• Enjambment is employed occasionally throughout the poem: She sleeps up in the attic there Alone, poor maid
• The enjambement here places emphasis on these lines to highlight the distance between the couple. for example, “alone” is separated onto a different line, which displays how isolated the maid is.
• This may work to set the reader against the speaker, as isolating a human is cruel and inhumane. The use of enjambment also adds to the narrative form of the poem.

Question 49

Describe the form of the poem

Question 50

Describe the use of language about objectification

Answer 50

• Mew’s use of language shows the way in which the farmer objectifies his wife.
• The fricative alliteration in “frightened fay” emphasises the almost violent objectification of her.
• The way in which he sees her as more of an object than a person is shown further in “I’ve hardly hear her speak at all”, the alliterative “h”’s in “hardly heard her” create an uncomfortable sound for the listener.
• This impression is similarly created in the metaphor “her smile went out, and twasn’t a woman” in which the speaker explicitly states that he doesn’t see her as a person anymore.
• Her isolation from humanity is shown in Mew’s use of syndetic listing in “she turned afraid // Of love and me and all things human”. Further objectification occurs in the frequent comparisons of the farmer’s bride to an animal.
• She is described as “Shy as a leveret” which characterises her as flighty and innocent (a leveret is a young hare).
• The speaker further infantilises his wife in “The soft young down of her, the brown, // The brown of her - her eyes, her hair, her hair!” which aligns her with a baby animal.
• The repetition of “brown” and “hair” shows the speaker’s paedophilic obsession. This imagery is continued in the description of her “wide brown stare” in which the colour imagery shows that the speaker can’t see beyond her appearance, showing his superficiality.
• The idea of a wide stare implies that she is more aware than her naive husband and her misery stems from this.
• Although the speaker’s attribution of natural traits to her is oppressive, she is shown to gain strength from it in “Out ‘mong the sheep” which is comforting, showing how she seeks solace in nature.

Question 51

Describe the use of language regarding possession

Answer 51

• Mew shows the way in which women are oppressed in marriage.
• The farmer is shown to be possessive in “I chose a maid”.
• At the time “maid” often meant virgin which highlights her young age and innocence.
• The idea of him choosing her shows that he sees her as something to possess.
• His bride is shown to be imprisoned through the overwhelming listing “We caught her, fetched her home at last // And turned the key upon her, fast”.
• Their relationship is presented as archaic and subservient due to the domestic connotations in “She does the work about the house”.
• It is clear that in their relationship, the farmer is looking out solely for himself.
• The rhetorical question “But what to me” and the patronising sarcasm in “Alone, poor maid.” show his selfish nature.

Question 52

Compare with:

Answer 52

• Love’s Philosophy
• Porphyria’s Lover