Sister Maude, by Christina Rosetti

SISTER MAUDE – CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

Christina Rossetti begins her poem “Sister Maude” with two similar questions, asking who told her parents about her 'shame'. We do not know at this point what the narrator's shame is, but it gradually becomes clear that she was having an affair with a handsome man. In Victorian times when Rossetti was writing, this would certainly have been considered shameful. The narrator answers the questions in the first quatrain, naming her sister Maude as the person who told her parents what was happening. The quatrain ends with the narrator's comment that Maude was spying on her sister; the word 'lurked' conveys the feeling of furtiveness and slyness. The fact that the narrator says 'who but Maude' when answering the questions shows that no-one else would have betrayed the narrator in this way, that Maude was a despicable sister.

The second quatrain focuses on the narrator's lover. The word 'cold' is emphasised by its position as the initial word, and also by its repetition in the simile 'as cold as stone' in the first line. The phrase 'Cold he lies' tells us that he is now dead. In the second line of this quatrain, Rossetti uses alliteration in 'clotted curls', a phrase that also echoes the initial sound of 'cold'. The description suggests that his once beautiful hair is now possibly congealed with blood. Again in this quatrain's third line we find alliteration with the hard 'c' sound in the phrase 'comeliest corpse'. Even in death, the man is very handsome, so handsome that the final line of the quatrain tells us that he could be the lover of a queen.

In the third quatrain the narrator speaks directly to her sister, wishing that Maude had spared the soul of the man as well as the two sisters. We now understand that it was Maude who murdered the man. She was obviously jealous, and it appears that the narrator was more attractive than Maude. The narrator conveys this idea in saying that even if she had never been born, the man would not have considered having an affair with Maude.

The narrator turns to the fate of her family in the fourth quatrain. She knows that her father is at peace in heaven, or 'Paradise', whereas her mother waits at its gate. This may mean that her mother has just recently died. The narrator knows, however, that Sister Maude will never go to heaven because she has committed murder: she will 'get no sleep'. The phrase 'Either early or late' that concludes the quatrain likely means that Maude is still alive, but her conscience will not allow her any peace or sleep.

The final stanza of 'Sister Maude' stands out as it has six lines compared to the four lines of the previous stanzas. The narrator once again refers to her parents: she believes that her father in heaven perhaps wears 'a golden crown', conveying the idea that he must have lived an admirable life. Again we have the impression that her mother may be not long dead, as she 'may win' a crown in heaven. The narrator then focuses on herself and her lover. She believes that even though they were having an affair, having been cruelly murdered they may be allowed to go to heaven if they 'knocked at Heaven-gate'. In the final two lines of the poem, the narrator once again addresses Sister Maude directly, repeating her name in the penultimate line. She ends the poem by telling Maude in no uncertain terms that she will have to live, or 'Bide', 'with death and sin'. The word 'you' is emphasised with italics, drawing attention to the contrast between the fate of Maude and the rest of the family.

The poem's structure is regular in that all but the final stanza are quatrains; the last stanza has six lines, allowing Rossetti to comment on the fate of her parents, her lover, herself and finally her sister. The rhyme scheme is ABCB for the quatrains, and ABCBDB for the final stanza. The fact that the first and third lines have no rhymes gives Rossetti more freedom in her choice of vocabulary.

The notes in 'Christina Rossetti – The Complete Poems' (Penguin Classics) suggest that Rossetti was influenced in composing “Sister Maude” by Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem “The Sister's Shame”. Both follow the same theme, but Tennyson's version is written from the point of view of the sister who killed the man. A further suggestion is that both Rossetti and Tennyson were influenced by Walter Scott's “Minstrelsy”.

Death is a recurring theme in her poetry, and Christina Rossetti must also have been affected by her voluntary work at Highgate Penitentiary, a home for 'fallen' women. Her contact here with criminals of various kinds that may well have lead her to compose “Sister Maude”. She explores a relationship between two sisters that is destroyed because of Maude's jealousy of her sister's looks and the attentions of her handsome lover. After initially spying on her sister, Maude goes to the extreme lengths of murder to vent her spite. Rossetti, a deeply religious woman, concentrates on the fact that peace in heaven awaits those, such as her parents, who lead an honourable life. Her conclusion is that Maude will be haunted by her crime and will never find peace of mind.

Here is the full text of “Sister Maude”

Who told my mother of my shame,

Who told my father of my dear?

Oh who but Maude, my sister Maude,

Who lurked to spy and peer.

Cold he lies, as cold as stone,

With his clotted curls about his face:

The comeliest corpse in all the world

And worthy of a queen's embrace.

You might have spared his soul, sister,

Have spared my soul, your own soul too:

Though I had not been born at all,

He'd never have looked at you.

My father may sleep in Paradise,

My mother at Heaven-gate;

But sister Maude shall get no sleep

Either early or late.

My father may wear a golden gown,

My mother a crown may win;

If my dear and I knocked at Heaven-gate

Perhaps they'd let us in:

But sister Maude, oh sister Maude,

Bide you with death and sin.

Reference

Christina Rossetti – The Complete Poems, Penguin Classics, 2005 (with introduction by Betty Flowers).

Originally posted on helium.com

The Ruined Maid, by Thomas Hardy

THE RUINED MAID – THOMAS HARDY

Thomas Hardy's poem “The Ruined Maid”, written in 1866, takes the form of a dialogue between two girls or young women who previously worked together on a farm. The girl who speaks first is still a farm-hand, and she has just met the other girl, Amelia, by chance in town. She is surprised at how different Amelia looks since she last saw her, but Amelia explains that she has been 'ruined'. This term actually means that she has become a prostitute. The poem is full of contrasts between the two speakers, as well as between the past life and present situation of the 'ruined maid'.

The poem has six stanzas of four lines each, or quatrains, and in each of the first five the farm girl speaks for the first three lines. The 'ruined' girl replies to her in the fourth line. In the first stanza, the farm girl expresses her surprise at meeting 'Melia, and asks her where she got her lovely clothes from, which are a sign of 'prosperity' – 'Melia seems to have gone up in the world. Amelia asks the farm girl if she hadn't known that she had been 'ruined', in other words had become a prostitute. Using the term 'ruined' conveys the idea that once a 'maid' has turned to prostitution, she will have no chance of finding a husband and settling down to married life.

In the second quatrain, the farm girl begins by remembering how differently Amelia was dressed when she left the farm. She wore rags, 'tatters' and was barefoot. She goes on to talk about Amelia's reasons for leaving the farm: she had had enough of digging up potatoes and also dock leaves, which are quite large weeds. The farm-hand then describes some of the details of the prostitute's appearance that are in sharp contrast. She has lovely bracelets as well as feathers, probably in her hat. The exclamation mark emphasises the farm girl's surprise and presumably also her admiration for such fine accessories. Amelia's reply is that any girl in her profession will be dressed in that way.

The farm girl turns in the third quatrain to recollections of the way Amelia used to speak when she worked at the 'barton', or farm. The 'ruined' girl has already used the word 'you', but the farm girl remarks that she used to use 'thee' and 'thou', which are more rural alternatives for 'you'. The farm-hand goes on to give more examples of words that the prostitute used to use when she was a country girl, but then comments that the way she speaks now is typical of a higher social class, or 'high compa-ny'. The farm girl herself uses an abbreviation of 'thee' – ''ee' – instead of 'you'. This time Amelia's reply is that when a girl is 'ruined', she gains 'polish', in other words refinement.

In the fourth quatrain, the farm girl comments on Amelia's hands and face. She says that the 'ruined' girl's hands used to be like 'paws', implying that the girl used to be in some respect like an animal, perhaps with rough and dirty hands. Her face used to be 'blue and bleak', suggesting that it looked unhealthy and unattractive. Now, however, the farm girl is amazed or 'bewitched' by the change in Amelia's face. In contrast, her skin is now 'delicate', giving the impression that it is smooth and fair. The farm girl must be envious of the prostitute's gloves, which she finds to be very ladylike. This time Amelia's answer to these remarks is that prostitutes never do any work, in other words nothing like farm labour that could be detrimental to their complexion or hands.

The dialogue in the fifth quatrain revolves around Amelia's former attitude to her life at home, on the farm. The country girl remembers that she used to describe it as a 'hag-ridden dream', a hag having connotations of a witch or ugly old woman. Now, however, the farm girl sees that the prostitute shows no sign of 'megrims', meaning depression or unhappiness, so she must be enjoying her life.

The sixth quatrain is the final one, and here the farm girl speaks for only the first two lines. Amelias reply fills the third and fourth lines, ending the poem. The farm girl does not make any new comments in her last remark, but shows how envious she is of Amelia. She wishes she could dress in the same fashionable way and walk the streets of the town rather than work on the farm. The prostitute's reply sounds arrogant, and she condescendingly calls the farm girl 'my dear'. She reminds her that a 'raw country girl' cannot hope to wear such fine clothes. Amelia is contrasting her situation with that of the farm girl, but ironically she uses the word 'ain't' in her final phrase, showing that in she has not in fact rid herself of her low-class speech completely.

The 'ruined' girl's full name, Amelia, means work, effort or strain, and on the farm she would certainly have had to make plenty of effort in her job. The farm girl shortens the name to 'Melia when she meets her. Melia means rival or emulating, having ambition, as though the girl is now striving to appear to belong to a higher class of society. There are those who also comment on the similarity of the name to the Latin word 'melior', which means better: Amelia has made attempts to better her appearance, but she has not improved her situation in life.

Hardy does use several poetic devices in the farm girl's speech, even though she is a 'raw country girl'. Her comments often feature phrases in pairs, such as 'digging potatoes, and spudding up docks'. These are occasionally given more emphasis through the use of alliteration, as in 'you'd sigh and you'd sock' or 'megrims or melancho-ly' in the penultimate quatrain.

The rhyme scheme is AABB, and the rhymes of the third and fourth lines are identical throughout the poem: prosperi-ty and she in the first quatrain, three and she in the second, etc. The hyphenation of words at the end of some of the third lines, such as prosperi-ty, separate the final syllable which is the one that rhymes with the fourth line. The rhymes of the first quatrain match those of the final quatrain, creating a feeling of symmetry perhaps. Overall the structure of 'The Ruined Maid' is regular, with each stanza being a quatrain; the farm girl speaks for the first three lines of all but the final quatrain, with Amelia's reply coming in the fourth line.

Hardy has created a fascinating picture of young women in Victorian times in 'The Ruined Maid'. Labouring on a farm cannot have been an attractive prospect for a country girl, but the poem shows us that perhaps the only way to escape it was through prostitution. The chance to wear fashionable clothes, jewellery and other pretty accessories would appeal to most young women. Walking around a town might also seem more interesting than spending time on a farm. The irony is of course that these opportunities were only available to lower-class women if they became prostitutes. The fact that the term 'ruined' was used to describe prostitutes tells us that their chances finding a husband and having a family would be non-existent. The country girl may have been envious of Amelia, but her prospects of marriage must have been far better.

Here is the poem in full:

“O 'Melia, my dear, this does everything crown!

Who could have supposed I should meet you in Town?

And whence such fair garments, such prosper-ity?” -

“O, didn't you know I'd been ruined?” said she.

• “You left us in tatters, without shoes or socks,

Tired of digging potatoes, and spudding up docks;

And now you've gay bracelets and bright feathers three!” -

“Yes: that's how we dress when we're ruined,” said she.

• “At home in the barton you said 'thee' and 'thou,'

And 'thick oon' and 'theas oon' and 't'other'; but now

Your talking quite fits 'ee for high compa-ny!” -

“Some polish is gained with one's ruin,” said she.

• “Your hands were like paws then, your face blue and bleak

But now I'm bewitched by your delicate cheek,

And your little gloves fit as on any la-dy!” -

“We never do work when we're ruined,” said she.

• “You used to call home-life a hag-ridden dream,

And you'd sigh and you'd sock; but at present you seem

To know not of megrims or melancho-ly!” -

“True. One's pretty lively when ruined,” said she.

• “I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown,

And a delicate face, and could strut about Town!” -

“My dear – a raw country girl, such as you be,

Cannot quite expect that. You ain't ruined,” said she.

Originally published on helium.com

Spellbound, by Emily Bronte

SPELLBOUND

by Emily Bronte

The setting of Emily Bronte's poem “Spellbound” is the Yorkshire Moors in England, the same setting as for her novel “Wuthering Heights.” The speaker is there on a cold winter's night, and the atmosphere is very bleak. Emily Bronte wrote the poem in 1837, at the age of nineteen. She and her sisters, Charlotte and Ann, had imagined a world that they called Gondal. In Gondal, the heroes and heroines they wrote about found themselves in romantic and sometimes tragic circumstances. Juliet Barker and Fannie Ratchford, both authorities on the poems of Emily Bronte, believe that “Spellbound” revolves around a mother who leaves her child out on the moors to die of exposure. Watching her child die is torture for her, but the woman is under a spell and finds herself unable to walk away. There is, however, no actual reference to a child in the poem.

The opening line of the poem “Spellbound” tells us that darkness is descending and surrounding the speaker. In the following line, Bronte uses alliteration in the phrase “wild winds” to make the description more vivid; not only are the winds strong, but they are also cold. The word “But” at the beginning of the third line conveys the sense that nobody would want to stay out on a cold, dark night. The speaker, however, is under “a tyrant spell,” the adjective implying that the spell is a particularly harsh, cruel one. Bronte connects the third line to the fourth with enjambment, thus linking the idea that because of the spell, the speaker is unable to leave the place where she is. The repetition of “cannot” emphasises the fact that it is impossible for her to go away.

The second stanza continues the description of the setting and intensifies the extreme weather conditions. The trees are “giant,” which stresses their size but also perhaps personifies them and creates a sense of fear. Bronte uses alliteration once again in the phrase “bending / their bare boughs.” Snow is laying heavily on the boughs of the trees, so the wintery conditions are indeed severe. In line seven the speaker says that a storm is brewing, but the second stanza closes in a similar way to the first: “And yet I cannot go.”

In the third and final stanza, Bronte uses repetition to underline the difficult conditions. First of all there are “Clouds beyond clouds” in the sky, then “Wastes beyond wastes below.” Wastes are barren land, creating the impression of a lonely, uninhabited place where a woman would not wish to be alone on a stormy winter's night. Despite this, the speaker says in line 11 that nothing “drear,” which means dismal or depressing, will make her move from the spot. In the final line of the poem she states not only that she cannot go, as she says at the end of the first two stanzas, but that she “will not” go. The spell seems to have taken such a hold upon her that she would not even make any attempt to leave.

The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABAB CBCB ABAB, which forms a symmetrical pattern. The first, third, ninth and eleventh lines all in fact end with the word “me” so they are identical rather than rhyming words. This serves to accentuate the predicament of the woman; she is surrounded by darkness and severe weather, but the force of the spell makes her unable to move. The fact that the second stanza, which is also the middle one, has the rhyming words “bending” and descending” sets it apart from the other two stanzas. The first and last stanzas are similar in the length of lines, as in both of them the first and third lines are slightly longer than the second and fourth. In the second stanza, line six appears to be the longest one in the poem, although it is not the one with the most syllables. The fact that the first and third stanzas look very similar, however, does add to the feeling of symmetry that is established by the rhyme scheme.

“Spellbound” is a brief poem but within the three stanzas Emily Bronte creates a powerful atmosphere through the use of vivid description, repetition of words and phrases and rhyming patterns. Initially there is a sense of the desperation of the woman who is speaking, but by the end of the poem, when “will not” is added to her statement “cannot go,” the idea that she is under a “tyrant spell” becomes all too convincing.

Here is the full text of the poem:

The night is darkening round me,

The wild winds coldly blow;

But a tyrant spell has bound me

And I cannot, cannot go.

The giant trees are bending

Their bare boughs weighed with snow.

And the storm is fast descending,

And yet I cannot go.

Clouds beyond clouds above me,

Wastes beyond wastes below;

But nothing drear can move me;

I will not, cannot go.

Originally published on helium.com

Tichborne's Elegy - Chidiock Tichborne

Composed the night before his execution, Tichborne's Elegy piles metaphor upon metaphor to express his regret and frustration upon his life being cut short whilst he is still in his prime. He was only twenty-eight years old at the time, but was sentenced to death because he had been involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. Written in the first person, almost every line begins with the word 'I' or 'My', showing us how self-absorbed the poet was in his last hours.

The poem comprises three stanzas, each of six lines. The word 'but', appearing in each of the first four lines, might be translated as 'just' in contemporary English. The first line tells us that although the poet is young, his life is a 'frost', cold and joyless, and full of worries because of his actions and his impending death. The following line refers again to his life, or his youth, which should have been the most fulfilling period but instead is 'a dish of pain', a time that is hard to bear. Then there is an agricultural metaphor, in which the poet expresses the fact that his 'crop of corn' has actually yielded a field of weeds (tares), meaning that nothing worthwhile has resulted from his short life. Line 4 explains that the only way the poet has benefited from his life is in hoping to make an achievement, but he has not in fact done so. The following line begins 'The day is past', a metaphor meaning that the poet's life has ended, and concludes 'and yet I saw no sun' – nothing worthwhile or advantageous has resulted from his life. The final line of the first stanza is identical to the last line of the second and third stanzas, emphasizing the fact that although the poet is alive at the actual time of composing the poem, he knows that his life has virtually come to an end.

The second stanza continues the pattern of metaphors, 'My tale was heard' meaning that the poet has had a life, 'and yet it was not told' expressing the frustration that his life was not lived to the full. Tichborne then compares his life to a tree, where the fruit has ripened and fallen to the ground, because his life is about to end; but 'my leaves are green' tells us that he is still young. This same idea is clearly conveyed in line 9, and line 10 expresses the concept that although the poet 'saw the world', because he was born, he 'was not seen', as nothing positive has come of his short life. Another metaphor follows, 'My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun' telling us that his life is ending even though he has not lived it out. The stanza concludes in exactly the same way as the first one.

The opening of the third and final stanza shows us the the poet considers that he was doomed even before he was born, and that as his life progressed he sensed it was to be cut short. He feels that his life has only just begun and yet it is about to end. Line 17 is a metaphor centred around the image of an hourglass, a little device like an egg-timer through which sand runs from top to bottom in the space of a few minutes. Tichborne knows that because of his youth he should have years of his life left, but his 'glass is run', meaning that the sand has all passed through and his time on earth has run out. Once again, the final line is exactly like that of the first two stanzas.

The poem is regular in its rhythm and rhyme scheme; the repetition or similarity in the structure of many of the lines is offset by the abundant use of metaphors which are the highlight of this work. The poet focusses purely on his own situation here and there is no reference at all to loved ones he is leaving behind or to his fellow conspirators.

'Tichborne's Elegy' is a fine poem full of metaphorical imagery. There is perhaps an element of irony in that the poet expresses the idea that he has achieved nothing in his short life, and yet he composed a masterpiece on the eve of his execution. His frustration and deep regret in fact inspired him to do so; to create such a poem when he must have been in the depths of despair is to be wondered at.

Here is the full text of the poem:

My prime of youth is but a frost of cares,

My feast of joy is but a dish of pain;

My crop of corn is but a field of tares,

And all my good is but vain hope of gain.

The day is past, and yet I saw no sun;

And now I live, and now my life is done.

My tale was heard, and yet it was not told,

My fruit is fallen, and yet my leaves are green;

My youth is spent, and yet I am not old,

I saw the world, and yet I was not seen.

My thread is cut, and yet it is not spun;

And now I live, and now my life is done.

I sought my death, and found it in my womb,

I looked for life and saw it was a shade;

I trod the earth, and knew it was my tomb,

And now I die, and now I was but made.

My glass is full, and now my glass is run;

And now I live, and now my life is done.

Chidiock Tichborne

1586

The Man He Killed - Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy's poem 'The Man He Killed' focusses on the senselessness and futility of war, where a man has killed another quite simply because they were fighting on opposing sides in a war.

Written in the first person from the standpoint of one of the soldiers, the first stanza expresses the idea that the two men who fought would, had they in other circumstances met each other outside a pub, have enjoyed a few drinks ('right many a nipperkin') together. Yet it becomes clear in the second stanza that they in fact met as foot soldiers in a battle, and being confronted with each other, one had to die. The narrator received a bullet but survived, whereas his shot fatally injured the other man.

The writer falters at the end of the opening line of the third stanza as he tries to justifies his action. Repeating the word 'because', he states that he had to kill the other soldier as he was his enemy. The third line of this stanza features more repetition, this time of the word 'foe' (enemy); the use of phrases such as 'Just so' and 'of course' suggest that the narrator is trying to convince himself that his action was inevitable. The stanza, however, ends with the word 'although', telling us that the writer is not in fact at ease with the idea that he has killed his enemy. Using enjambment to link to the fourth stanza, the narrator reflects on the fact that the soldier he killed probably decided to join the army ('list is short for enlist) because he had no work and had sold his belongings. The narrator understands this, having been in a similar situation himself and having found himself with no alternative but to join the army. It was not a positive decision, but a last resort when there were no other options.

The final stanza reiterates the main theme of the poem, that war is a strange phenomenon because a soldier finds himself forced to kill a man that he would otherwise have bought a drink for or lent money to, had they met in times of peace. 'Half-a-crown' is the old British money, worth about twelve and a half pence in today's currency. In 1902 that would of course have had considerably more value than it does just over one hundred years later.

The poem is written in a conversational tone, with speech marks included, making us feel that the soldier is addressing us personally in an informal way, and pleading with us to understand his action in killing his enemy. The language is very straightforward and easy to comprehend with the exception of two or three words. There are five stanzas, each of four lines, all of which are inset to a certain degree other than the third in each stanza, which creates a regular pattern on the page. The rhyme scheme and rhythm are also regular and give the poem quite a fast pace.

It is easy to appreciate this poem and to identify with the soldier and his feelings, sympathizing with his predicament and sensing that he regrets having had to kill his enemy. We understand that individual soldiers do not necessarily nurture hatred for those they are fighting against, but see them as human beings in circumstances similar to their own, enlisting in order to earn money and suppport a family. But when facing each other at close range, the reality of war kicks in and one of them must kill the other. The narrator here knows that he could easily have been the one to die. The idea that war is nonsensical when seen at the level of ordinary human beings who are obliged to carry out orders is evident throughout the poem.

Here is the complete text of the poem:

'Had he and I but met

By some old ancient inn,

We should have sat us down to wet

Right many a nipperkin!

'But ranged as infantry,

And staring face to face,

I shot at him as he at me,

And killed him in his place.

'I shot him dead because -

Because he was my foe,

Just so: my foe of course he was;

That's clear enough; although

'He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,

Off-hand like – just as I -

Was out of work – had sold his traps -

No other reason why.

'Yes; quaint and curious war is!

You shoot a fellow down

You'd treat if met where any bar is,

Or help to half-a-crown.'

Thomas Hardy

1902