Maude CLare

Question 1

narrator

Answer 1

detached and omniscient

no bias to either side

Question 2

rhythm

Answer 2

alternating iambic tetrameter and trimeter lines

awkward meter parallels the situation

Question 3

written in

Answer 3

1859

Question 4

queenly

Answer 4

“lofty step”

appears superior to Nell

unashamed and proud

Question 5

Nell was like

Answer 5

a “village maid”

contrast to Maude like a “queen”

Question 6

structure

Answer 6

12 quatrains, ballad

Question 7

marriage

Answer 7

the conversations in the poem shatter the image of marriage as a state of fulfilled love

perhaps Rossetti’s view

Question 8

Thomas’s mother

Answer 8

“your father thirty years ago” - perhaps history repeating itself

comparing the marriages

Question 9

innocence

Answer 9

“so pale” - Nell

pure, unlike Maude

Question 10

Maude

Answer 10

embodies a scorned Victorian woman

victim of societies conventions

the fallen woman was a popular figure in Victorian culture

Question 11

Maude’s sarcasm

Answer 11

“bless the marriage-bed”

curse or sarcasm

Question 12

Maude going against society

Answer 12

“we waded ankle deep”

intimacy that would’ve been inappropriate in Victorian era

Question 13

Maude and Thomas’s

Answer 13

level of familiarity detracts from Maude’s worth rather than Thomas’s

Question 14

flowers

Answer 14

“lilies in the beck”

flowers for funerals or connotating innocence and fragility

Question 15

marriage formed the

Answer 15

structure of a stable society

women who ignored this were considered dangerous to social harmony

Rossetti is challenging Victorian society’s outlook on women who step outside their predetermined roles

Question 16

virginity

Answer 16

“we plucked from the budding bough”

suggesting she lost her virginity to Thomas

“budding” - could hint at an illegitimate pregnancy

Question 17

Thomas calls Maude

Answer 17

“Maude Clare” which could imply their close relationship

Question 18

caesura

Answer 18

” - and hid his face”

Thomas can’t articulate but Maude can

a clear critique of dominant masculinity

Question 19

theme of female rivalry

Answer 19

Rossetti has implied that women require the presence of men to be content

jealous female natures

Question 20

blooms

Answer 20

“the blooms were gone”

the best of Thomas has gone to Maude

Question 21

heart

Answer 21

“fickle heart” and “paltry love”

suggests men are changeable and fickle

Question 22

Nell is a

Answer 22

paragon of womanly virtue

faithful

“he’s my lord for better and worse”

Question 23

Nell and Maude contrast

Answer 23

Nell contrasts the unfeminine Maude. Shows her Christian values

Nell has future, whereas Maude only has a past

“what you spurn, I’ll wear”

Question 24

Thomas’s continued love for Maude

Answer 24

implied by Nell as she says “I’ll love him till he loves me best”

persevering love

Question 25

poem ends on

Answer 25

“Maude Clare” - ends on her name, suggesting she gets the last word

Question 26

Rossetti uses

Answer 26

the contrasting women to comment on the difference between a woman’s actual desires and the limitations of her place with Victorian society

Question 27

presentation of men

Answer 27

as weak - “strove to” “faltered”

as vulnerable - “pale”

contrast to Victorian expectations and shifts the power to women

Question 28

Rossetti shows

Answer 28

an interest in female dialogue

power shift to Maude Clare

Question 29

Simon Mold

Answer 29

Rossetti’s poems give a vibrant voice to the female experience, despite Victorian women being denied social and economic freedom

Question 30

often uses the word “lo”

Answer 30

which expresses her authority and determination to be heard