1. Maude Clare Contextual Links/Significance Personal Response
MC composed between 1857 and 1858 and it was 41 stanzas long, but when it was first published in 1859 in Once a Week (an illustrated magazine which often contained serialised fiction as well as poetry) it was cut down to 15, and when Rossetti later published it  in Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), it was cut down to 12.
Produced in the patriarchal Victorian era when many Victorians considered marriage to be at the centre of a stable society. It was widely believed that a happy family contributed to the well-being of the country. Since most women were forced to rely on men for their financial upkeep and careers were closed to them, a good marriage was important. Singleness was often not accepted as a legitimate choice for a woman could make and was a last resort as it was generally believed that if a woman was unmarried she was somehow not complete.
Maude Clare offers notable insight into the cultural custom of marriage in Victorian England. The roles of the woman scorned, the ideal bride, the husband, and the mother are all explored in this poem. Notably, women had a "place" in polite society in regards to her husband or lover. The descriptions of intimacy between Maude Clare and Thomas, for example, would have been considered inappropriate for two people who were not married at the time. The perspective of Nell, who chooses to stand by her marital vows regardless of her husband’s feelings is also an interesting commentary for Victorian England, and a standard attitude for the time.
In a Victorian setting, despite Maude Clare being the seeming ideal match for Thomas (like a queen), the virtue expressed by Nell would have been seen as a significant boost in her favour for readers deciding which was the better match. Nell’s love makes her stand out in a better way than Maude Clare’s scorn, and this was an important aspect of Victorian culture that is well-worth exploring in this work.
Status and hierarchy was also prominent in Victorian society with marriages being made to elevate social position and to provide women with financial and social security.
Religion also may have influenced the poem as it was written at a time when Rossetti had found religion, and piety and religion were significant factors in marriage.
Not necessarily reflective of Rossetti’s opinion or life, although she did reject marriage herself three times and lived in a society that imposed strict restrictions on women and expected them to marry to fulfil their religious duty.
Personal Response
Content
The poem is about Maude Clare interrupting a bride and groom following their wedding. She plays the part of the embittered, passionate woman scorned, the groom being her ex-lover and his bride a representation of the Victorian ideal for married women. From the start of the poem the characters of MC and the bride (Nell) are juxtaposed, with MC ‘like a queen’ and the bride ‘a village maid’ suggesting MC is the superior candidate. The poem also introduces the groom’s mother who acknowledges her son’s situation and had a similar one with his father, suggesting it is common and that perhaps the ideals of married love are false and questionable. Neither Nell or the groom take it well, her due to humiliation, him due to conflicting emotion. MC then offers them gifts to shame and scorn them that imply the recent sexual nature of her relationship with Thomas, the groom, and that he is still attached to her despite his marriage. The groom cannot respond to her, faltering as he is perhaps guilty, weak, or still undeniably in love with Maude. MC then scorns Nell, offering her back her own husband’s love and rejecting him. Nell acts as the stereotype of a good wife and stands by her husband.
Purpose/Message?
Marriage is not the ideal for fulfilled love. A critique of the institution of marriage and a challenge to patriarchal society?
Ambiguities and Nuances
Not clear whether Rossetti supports Maude or Nell in the poem, although it is addressed to Maude.
The word ‘pale’ – purity, innocence, death (bad start), guilt, weakness, anxiety, suppressed anger, grief, strife etc.
Mother’s words – reassurance? Suggest marriage ideals are false/questionable?
Who wins? MC dominates throughout but Nell gets the final say.
Textual Evidence
“bride was like a village maid” “Maude Clare was like a queen”
“Your father thirty years ago/ Had just your tale to tell”
“lord was pale with inward stride” “Nell was pale with pride” “lord gazed long on pale Maude Clare”
“Lo…my gift…To bless the hearth, to bless the board,/ To bless the marriage bed”
“Here’s my half of the golden chain” “Here’s my half of the faded leaves”
“we waded ankle-deep” “We plucked from the budding bough” “lilies are budding now”
“strove to match her scorn” “faltered” “lady” “Maude Clare” “-’Maude Clare,’ –”
“Take my share of a fickle heart…Tae it or leave it as you will/ I wash my hands thereof”
“he’s my lord for better and worse” “you’re taller…more wise and much more fair/I’ll love him till he loves me best,/ Me best of all Maude Clare”
Patterns – repetition of ‘pale’, ‘gift’, ‘half’ and ‘lilies’
Close Analysis
Ballad form (traditionally Victorian), but poem challenges it by not having ABAB rhyme scheme but ABCB – more awkward and tense/ challenging boundaries. Also challenges ballad topic of reconciliation of love by deviating to focus on bitter split.
Structure of 12 quatrains – strong dramatic quality. Linear chronology except references by MC to the past in flashbacks that suggest previous relationship with Thomas.
Imagery + Symbolism
“the hearth” = home and warmth and protection, ironic as MC brings cold and is aggressive.
“the board” = where meals shared in domestic live – generosity and communion/family
“marriage-bed” = for rest + intimacy – MC disrupts it with her blessing and could effect them having that intimacy and thus children or bliss with one another.
“golden chain” – rejection of his wealth + financial help. Also suggests they had something pure and valuable between them
“Lilies” = symbol of purity and fertility used at weddings and funerals. Victorians understand flower symbolism/meaning.
Natural and pure imagery juxtaposed with sexual – sexual love =pure and natural love
“pale” - multiple interpretations such as beauty, death, anxiety etc.
Halves = only complete together, they are still connected even though he is with Nell.
Tone
Thomas’ mother = sympathetic voice of past + experience, Thomas = confused, shocked (MC unexpected), apprehensive as reflected by caesurae and mostly silent, MC= fierce, scornful and assertive e.g. ‘Lo’ (Oh and look) forces Nell and Thomas to pay her attention, and Nell = more passive then grows courage. First speech echoes marriage vows, then own feelings expressed in repetition of ‘love’ as if reassuring herself that love will grow – she stands by him.
Female voices dominate with directs speech (vs. Patriarchy)
Out of the church she followed them With a lofty step and mien:  His bride was like a village maid,  Maude Clare was like a queen. “Son Thomas, ” his lady mother said,  With smiles, almost with tears:  “May Nell and you but live as true As we have done for years;  “Your father thirty years ago Had just your tale to tell;  But he was not so pale as you,  Nor I so pale as Nell.” My lord was pale with inward strife,  And Nell was pale with pride;  My lord gazed long on pale Maude Clare Or ever he kissed the bride. “Lo, I have brought my gift, my lord,  Have brought my gift, ” she said:  “To bless the hearth, to bless the board,  To bless the marriage-bed. “Here’s my half of the golden chain You wore about your neck,  That day we waded ankle-deep For lilies in the beck:  “Here’s my half of the faded leaves We plucked from the budding bough,  With feet amongst the lily leaves, - The lilies are budding now.” He strove to match her scorn with scorn,  He faltered in his place:  “Lady, ” he said, - “Maude Clare, ” he said, - “Maude Clare, ” – and hid his face. She turn’d to Nell: “My Lady Nell,  I have a gift for you;  Though, were it fruit, the blooms were gone,  Or, were it flowers, the dew. “Take my share of a fickle heart,  Mine of a paltry love:  Take it or leave it as you will,  I wash my hands thereof.” “And what you leave, ” said Nell, “I’ll take,  And what you spurn, I’ll wear;  For he’s my lord for better and worse,  And him I love Maude Clare. “Yea, though you’re taller by the head,  More wise and much more fair:  I’ll love him till he loves me best,  Me best of all Maude Clare.” 
Comparison with other poems
No Thank You John – both a rejection of marriage and challenge patriarchal society
“Here’s friendship for you if you like; but love,-/ No thank you, John.”
From the Antique – Both look at the role of women and patriarchal society
Soeur Louise de la Misericorde – End of an illicit relationship with a spurned lover
Winter, My Secret – Theme of secrecy and temptation
Critical and Contextual Reception
Maude Clare is “a clear critique of dominant masculinity” (Simon Avery)
“Nell both subtly wrestles power back from the ex-lover and asserts her centrality in relation to her husband. Maude Clare might have dominated the scene throughout, yet it is Nell’s determination and defiance which strike home at the end.”
(Simon Avery) 
“Christina Rossetti’s “Maude Clare” engages in a discourse on hegemonic definitions of Victorian femininity. This issue is dealt with on multiple layers which in turn either reinforce or challenge these gendered ideals in their reflections on the position of women. The illustration in combination with the text as well as the layout challenge these ideals, however the explicit and implicit meanings of the text itself lessen this challenge and create a more ambiguous position. Perhaps this ambiguity is more reflective on the actual position of women at the time however as the demographics in the population made it impossible for all women to accomplish the goals set for them by society, placing them in an ambiguous position indeed. ”
(Victorian Femininity in "Maude Clare", Andrew Stewart and Alexandra Russel)
Initially the poem was more sympathetic to Maude Clare but the 41 stanza long original manuscript version was cut down to 15 when it appeared in Once a Week and when it appeared in Goblin Market and Other Poems it had been cut again to only 12.