farmer's bride powerpoint
TRANSCRIPT
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