The Farmer's Bride

Question 1

What is “The Farmer’s Bride” about?

Answer 1

a relationship between a farmer and his young wife who runs away but is brought back and locked up. their relationship is distant and probably unconsumated.

Question 2

Who wrote “The Farmer’s Bride” and when?

Answer 2

Charlotte Mew in 1916

Question 3

What is the form of the poem?

Answer 3

-dramatic monologue in the eyes of the farmer
- range of punctuation used in the end reflecting their troubled relationship

Question 4

What is the structure of the poem?

Answer 4

-crafted lack of rhyme scheme and stanza length to show farmer’s lack of understanding on how to deal with the situation but also his lack of education or unconventional relationship
-caesura to separate the couple or the wife from other people emphasising their isolation

Question 5

What is the context of the poem?

Answer 5

-written in the time of woman’s suffrage
-dark undertones was influenced by her siblings dying and being institutionalised
-made pact with sister to never marry

Question 6

What does the title suggest?

Answer 6

-possessive apostrophe to show farmers control of wife
-he calls her a bride showing he is frozen in their wedding day and the fantasy of what a marriage should be and their relationship has not progressed since then

Question 7

What are some main language points?

Answer 7

-farmer compares wife with animal, plants and fairies distancing her from the world
-wife remains unnamed conveying how the farmer only views her as an object of his desire who is in his control

Question 8

Finish the quote: “Three….” LINE 1

Answer 8

“Three summer since I chose a maid”

Question 9

Analyse the quote: “Three summers since I chose a maid”

Answer 9

-time phrase to show how the relationship has been dragging out
-“maid”is a female domestic servant emphasising how he is in possession of her but also how she is a prisoner in this new home
-or how she is a virgin and innocent

Question 10

Finish the quote: “she turned afraid…//” LINE 4-5

Answer 10

“she turned afraid// Of love and me and all things human”

Question 11

Analyse the quote: “she turned afraid// Of love and and me and all things human”

Answer 11

-syndetic listing to show her isolation
-shows how the wife would be overwhelmed using threes
-exaggerated reaction showing her naivety and immaturity

Question 12

Quotes to show the bride being presented animalistically:

Answer 12

“flying like a hare”
“but like a mouse”

Question 13

Finish the quote: “We caught her…” LINE 18

Answer 13

“We caught her, fetched her home at last”

Question 14

Analyse the quote: “We caught her, fetched her home at last”

Answer 14

-animalistic and predatory emphasising her role as prey “caught” “fetched”
-inclusive pronoun perhaps representative of a patriarchal society ready to rein women in when they try and find freedom apart from what society has told them to be
-she is always in the passive position

Question 15

Finish the quote: “Shy as a…” LINE 30

Answer 15

“Shy as a leveret”

Question 16

Analyse the quote: “Shy as a leveret”

Answer 16

-zoomorphism portraying the wife as wild and untameable
-“leveret” timidity and fragility of wife, emphaises her youth and therefore her vulnerability
-simile emphasises wife’s isolation
-characterises her as flighty and innocent (young hare)

Question 17

Finish the quote: “Straight and slight…” LINE 31

Answer 17

“Straight and slight as a young larch tree”

Question 18

Analyse the quote: “Straight and slight as a young larch tree”

Answer 18

-“larch” sparse leaves of the tree show how she is underdeveloped and childlike in her body
-farmer desires her physically and continues to objectify her
-sibilance, thoughts are in harmony or he is having impure thoughts leading him to supposedly take advantage of her

Question 19

Finish the quote: “To her wild self…?”

Answer 19

“To her wild self. But what to me?”

Question 20

Analyse the quote: “To her wild self. but what to me?”

Answer 20

-he can not control her/ she belongs to nature “sweet as the first wild violets”
-caesura shows that he can’t have her in he way that he wants and there is a gulf between them in which they are separated because he can’t give up his false sense of control
-“me?” he is unsure of their relationship but is expectant of what she owes him

Question 21

Finish and analyse the quote: “She sleeps in the…”

Answer 21

She sleeps in the attic there// Alone, poor maid. ‘Tis but a stair// Betwixt us.”
-stairs are symbolic of the obstacles between them showing their emotional distance is insurmountable
-there is a power shift with the wife being above him and she must descend to be with him,she is no longer able to run from him
-enjambment reinforces separation representing his broken heart
-archaic language shows he is out of date and overtly traditional

Question 22

What could be said about the last two lines?

Answer 22

repetition of brown and hair shows his obsession and is elucidated when it says “wide brown stare”
-colour imagery shows he sees nothing past her physicality
-wide stare may imply that she is more knowing than the speaker is led to believe shown also when she runs away