1. ‘The Farmer’s Bride’
Charlotte Mew

2. Charlotte Mew Born in 1869 and died in 1928
Her father died in 1898 and didn’t leave enough money for the family to survive on.
2 of her siblings had mental illnesses and were put into institutions and 3 other siblings died at a very young age
Mew made a pact with her surviving sister that they would never get married because they didn’t want to pass insanity on to other children
In 1912 she met May Sinclair who was also a writer. Mew fell in love with her, but Sinclair didn’t love her back.
Being gay was illegal and considered a mental illness
In 1928 she became very depressed after the death of her sister
She went into a nursing home but was frightened of mental illness , so ended up taking her own life by drinking disinfectant

3. Context
Before Hardwicke's Marriage act of 1753 there was no legal age of marriage, except during the 1650's when it was sixteen for `men' and fourteen for women'.
In 1753 it was fixed at fourteen for men and twelve for women, and remained at those ages until the Age of Marriage Act in 1929, which raised the age to sixteen for both.
During the 1800s wife beating was extremely common and only caused outrage if it was exceptionally brutal or endangered life. There was a widespread belief among ordinary people, male and female, that it was every man’s ‘right’ to beat his wife so long as it was to ‘correct’ her if she did anything to annoy or upset him or refuse to obey orders. The editor of the Hull Packet 97th October 1853) remarked that wife-beating was ‘being accepted as the habit of the nation’. The phrase ‘a stick not thicker than his thumb’ was often used.

4. Three Summers since I chose a maid, Too young maybe – but more’s to do
Past tense suggests that his wife wasn’t afraid until after they were married – this hints that he could be responsible for her fear.
Verb shows system of patriarchy – suggests she didn’t have much choice in the marriage. Also reflected in the title.
Three Summers since I chose a maid,
Too young maybe – but more’s to do
At harvest-time than bide and woo.
When us was wed she turned afraid
Of love and me and all things human;
Like the shut of a winter’s day
Her smile went out, and ‘twasn’t a woman –
More like a little frightened fay.
One night, in the Fall, she runned away.
Foreshadowing
The farmer had a practical, unromantic approach to marriage
Has he done something to make her feel frightened?
Simile – rejection
coldness
When he says love does he actually mean sex?
Rhyming couplet
Dialect of the farmer – we can hear his voice, it’s one he shares with his community.
Lack of formal education
Bide : wait
A fay: a fairy

5. ‘Out ‘mong the sheep, her be, ‘they said,
Archaic language
Suggestiveness (sexual
Innocence and fear
‘Out ‘mong the sheep, her be, ‘they said,
Should properly have been abed;
But sure enough she wasn’t there
Lying awake with her wide brown stare.
So over seven-acre field and up-along across the down
We chased her, flying like a hare
Before our lanterns. To Church-Town
All in a shiver and a scare
We caught her, fetched her home at last
And turned the key upon her, fast.
The long line reflects the chase
The whole village seems to be involved – which adds to the impression that she’s being hunted.
Her fear is expressed physically, like a hunted animal – ‘scare’ also rhymes with ‘hare’, which emphasises the pace.
This would have been accepted at this time
The rhyming couplet emphasizes the decisive action of locking her away and makes it sound sinister.

6. She does the work about the house As well as most, but like a mouse:
The change to the present tense emphasizes his resigned, baffled tone. It suggests that she’s a fairly good housewife – she does what is expected, but doesn’t love her husband how he would like.
She’s linked with small prey animals to show her vulnerability. Some link to children?
A reaction to men in general, not just the farmer.
She does the work about the house
As well as most, but like a mouse:
Happy enough to chat and play
With birds and rabbits and such as they,
So long as men-folk keep away.
‘Not near, not near!’ her eyes beseech
When one of us comes within reach.
The women say that beasts in stall
Look round like children at her call.
I’ve hardly heard her speak at all.
She is nearly silent and only speaks to animals. She sounds withdrawn and depressed.
Hints at former abuse
Rhyming triplet emphasizes the narrator’s frustration at his wife’s behaviour, especially considering the emphasis on ‘I’ve’.
Simile shows that the farm animals trust her and look to her for care – it may suggest that he is jealous of them.

7. Shy as a leveret, swift as he,
Repeated use of sibilant sounds emphasizes her link with nature.
Irregular, short stanza reflects the farmer’s growing agitation due to his unfulfilled desire for her.
s….silent
List of similes makes his admiration clear.
Connected to nature
Has connotations of unspoilt freedom and a rejection of people.
Shy as a leveret, swift as he,
Straight and slight as a young larch tree,
Sweet as the first wild violets, she,
To her wild self. But what to me?
Rhetorical question – breaks his happier thoughts of her in springtime, and follows it up with a winter scene.
Leveret – a young hare

8. The short days shorten and the oaks are brown,
The slower pace suggests the farmers ease with natural world.
It contrasts with his feelings about his marriage.
Metaphor – the downward movement of the leaf shows downward spiral of hope or happiness in the relationship
Gloomy – nothing will change in the relationship
The short days shorten and the oaks are brown,
The blue smoke rises to the low grey sky,
One leaf in the still air falls slowly down,
A magpie’s spotted feathers lie
On the black earth spread white with rime,
The berries redden up to Christmas-time.
What’s Christmas-time without there be
Some other in the house than we!
Winter is used to suggest the decay and death of his hopes
Holly berries metaphor for blood, loss of virginity and reproduction – emphasising their childless marriage
Christmas is about the birth of a child – they have no children because she refuses to sleep with him.
Enjambment – highlights desperation to have a family
Rime - frost

9. She sleeps up in the attic there Alone, poor maid, ‘Tis but a stair
He is aware of her physical closeness which adds to his frustration.
Sounds sympathetic but also suggests that she is still a virgin – a ‘maid’ is a young, unmarried girl.
Animal-like descriptions show his desire for her – even though these qualities are also the source of his frustration. Internal rhyme of ‘brown’ and ‘down’ emphasises his desire and frustration.
Repetition of brown
She sleeps up in the attic there
Alone, poor maid, ‘Tis but a stair
Betwixt us. Oh! My God! the down,
The soft young down of her; the brown,
The brown of her – her eyes, her hair, her hair!
No rhyming couplet at the end – what might he do?
Frantic –sounding repetition, internal rhyme, the half-rhyme ‘her hair’ and the exclamation suggest that he’s breaking down and losing control.
The woman does not have a voice in this poem

10. Structure and form
Told from the farmer’s perspective – dramatic monologue
Stanza’s 1 and 2 – marriage
Stanzas 3,4 and 5 – How the wife behaves and the farmer’s feelings
Stanza 6 - Desire
Time passing – 3 summers….Christmas
Stanza 4 stands out – he admires his wife, but punctuation breaks up his thinking
6 rhyming verses – lament

11. Voice
Monologue
Similes
Sibilance
Assonance
Enjambment
Caesura
Repetition
Rhetorical question
Internal rhyme
Frustration
Desire
Fear
Foreboding
Marriage
The natural world
Gender division
Unconsumated
Solace
Irony
Voice
Monologue
Similes
Sibilance
Assonance
Enjambment
Caesura
Repetition
Rhetorical question
Internal rhyme
Frustration
Desire
Fear
Foreboding
Marriage
The natural world
Gender division
Unconsumated
Solace
Irony
Voice
Monologue
Similes
Sibilance
Assonance
Enjambment
Caesura
Repetition
Rhetorical question
Internal rhyme
Frustration
Desire
Fear
Foreboding
Marriage
The natural world
Gender division
Unconsumated
Solace
Irony
Voice
Monologue
Similes
Sibilance
Assonance
Enjambment
Caesura
Repetition
Rhetorical question
Internal rhyme
Frustration
Desire
Fear
Foreboding
Marriage
The natural world
Gender division
Unconsumated
Solace
Irony