Reading

‘The Farmer’s Bride’By Charlotte MewPublished in 1912

Reading

‘The Farmer’s Bride’By Charlotte Mew

Three Summers since I chose a maid,Too young maybe – but more’s to do

young girl, possibly a virgin

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

Simile – dark, depressing, given up?

wait around Flirt with a view to marriage

Her smile went out, and ’twasn’t a woman –More like a little frightened fay.

One night, in the Fall, she runned away.

Alliteration of ‘f’ – emphasises fear

fairy

‘Out ’mong the sheep, her be,’ they said,Should properly have been abed;But sure enough she wasn’t thereLying awake with her wide brown stare.

Fear?

Rhyming couplets – passion of speaker?

So over seven-acre field and up-along across the downWe chased her, flying like a hareBefore our lanterns. To Church-TownAll in a shiver and a scareWe caught her, fetched her home at lastAnd turned the key upon her, fast.

Simile – fast – terrified!

Onomatopoeia – petrified!

Rhyming couplet – speeds up pace

She does the work about the houseAs well as most, but like a mouse:

Simile - scared.

Happy enough to chat and playWith birds and rabbits and such as they,So long as men-folk keep away.

References to nature – innocence, simple

Why her fear of men?

‘Not near, not near!’ her eyes beseechWhen one of us comes within reach.The women say that beasts in stallLook round like children at her call.I’ve hardly heard her speak at all.

beg Rhyme speeds up – farmer getting desperate?

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?

Repetition of similes – comparing her to all these natural features – frustration she’s rejecting him?

Young hare

Positive adjectives – he’s attracted to her

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

Monosyllables – time passing slowly – frustration?

On the black earth spread white with rime,The berries redden up to Christmas-time.What’s Christmas-time without there beSome other in the house than we!

frostExtreme contrast – like the farmer and his wife

No child – no sex?

She sleeps up in the attic thereAlone, poor maid. ’Tis but a stairBetwixt us.

between

Oh! my God! the down,The soft young down of her, the brown,The brown of her – her eyes, her hair, her hair!

Repetition; internal rhyme – bit manic? Obsessed? Is he going to attack her?

Soft fine fluffy feathers – like a baby bird - vulnerable