Maude Clare

Question 1

What is Maude Clare about? (4 points)

Answer 1

It is a story that is a lesson in the dangers of marriage and the risks of disappointed expectations

Maude Clare interrupts Sir Thomas and Nell’s wedding day - she is Sir Thomas’ ex-lover and intends to cause trouble

Maude Clare, meanwhile, gives the couple wedding gifts — but these are souvenirs from her love affair with Sir Thomas, who is too shamed to rebuff her

So Maude Clare gives the bride ‘permission’ to accept her mercurial husband - Nell’s restraint is in contrast with Maude Clare’s freely expressed anger

Question 2

What is the structure of Maude Clare? (2 points)

Answer 2

The poem comprises twelve four-lined stanzas, known as quatrains - follows a typical ballad structure of iambic tetrameters, alternating with iambic trimeters

The rhyme scheme is ABCB, a deviation from the usual ABAB, CDCD ballad pattern - gives a looser flow that softens the rather strict rhythmic template. The rhyme is almost totally perfect.

Question 3

What is the language and imagery of Maude Clare?

Answer 3

The language is simple and accessible with reported conversation to tell the story

Repetition is used to emphasise the important points of the story, as in the last two lines of the last stanza

The poem may have been intended by Rossetti as suitable to be spoken aloud in performance for those unable to read.

Question 4

What other poems does Maude Clare link to?

Answer 4

An Apple Gathering

Question 5

What is the relevant context for Maude Clare? (3 points)

Answer 5

Nell is a loving bride and a paragon of feminine virtue, although less beautiful and sophisticated - represents the type of wholesome goodness prized by Victorian society

Maude Clare typifies the Victorian archetype of the scorned woman whose anger can’t be appeased

For all Maude Clare’s fierce, unfeminine behaviour, she is the victim in the story - a young woman with a tainted reputation that can’t be redeemed