Maude Clare Flashcards
what is the context of Maude Clare?
James Collison broke off his engagement with Maude, he exhibited his work at the Royal Academy in 1857- which made his work difficult to forget.
Collison soon married Eliza Wheeler who was said to have some fortune of her own- this story was the basis for the poem.
Rossetti also wrote a poem of a similar ilc called Jealousy which she tore up.
what are the key ideas behind the poem?
- this poem is written in the form of a ballad.
- 3rd person narrator, the story of the character is hinted- this is narrated in the same way as Goblin Market
- the ending is purposefully ambiguous.
how did Rossetti have appreciation for the difficulty that women faced during this time?
Rossetti volunteered at the Magdelanm college in Oxford and worked with “fallen women”.
5 key quotes and their significance?
there is a parallelism between the two women, comparison between the “village maid” and the “queen”- Maude Clare is the only character that is named in this stanza- emphasises her regal nature.
The ironic symbols of the wedding bed “to bless the marriage bed”- this is a homonym and displays that Maude Clare acts as a curse to the newly wedded couple.
There is the link to fertility with the “Lillies in the back”- sense of purity, a reminder that Lord Thomas did indeed have a past he shouldn’t of.
There is a sense that Nell is accepting of her fate as she states, “I love him til he loves me best”
