The Farmer's Bride - Charlotte Mew

• "Three Summers since I chose a maid,"


  Content: "chose" shows system of patriarchy (male authority over women) - suggests she didn't have much choice about their marriage. This is reflected in the title - it sounds like she belongs to him.
• "Too young maybe - but more's to do"

  "At harvest-time than bide and woo."


  Content: Hints that the farmer had a practical and unromantic approach to marriage.
• "When us was wed she turned afraid"


  Dialect: She wasn't afraid until after they were married - this could hint that he's responsible for her fear in some way.
• "Of love and me and ..."


  Language about nature: Anticipates the comparisons to animals that follow. It is a strong statement, but the source of this fear is a mystery.
• "...all things human;

  Like the shut of a winter's day"


  Language about nature: Simile shows how sudden this change was - winter days go dark very quickly.
• "Her smile went out, and 'twasn't a woman-"


  Content: A smile going out indicates unhappiness.
• "More like a little frightened fay."


  Content: a "fay" is a fairy, but this fairy is frightened.
• "One night, in the Fall, she runned away.

  Out 'mong the sheep, her be,' they said,

  Should properly have been abed;"


  Dialect: of the farmer - we can hear his voice, and it is one he shares with his community.
• "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"


  Content: The look of a lover appears to be a connection between more than one poem.
• "We chased her,..."


  Language about nature: Hunting imagery - suggests her terror.
• "...flying like a hare"

  Before our lanterns. To Church Town

  All in a shiver and a scare"


  Language about nature: Her fear is expressed physically, simile like a hunted animal - "scare" is rhymed with "hare", which emphasises the comparison.
• "We caught her, fetched her home at last

  And turned the key upon her, fast."


  Content: The whole village seems to be involved - this adds to the sense that she is being hunted.
• "She does the work about the house

  As well as most,


  Content: The change to the present tense emphasises his resigned, baffled tone. She is a fairly good housewife - she does what is expected of her in the relationship apart from loving her husband.
• "but like a mouse:"


  Language about nature: Simile to compare, small prey animals to show her vulnerability.
• "Happy enough to chat and play

  With birds and rabbits and such as they,"


  Language about nature: She is nearly silent and only speaks to animals. She sounds withdrawn and depressed.
• "So long as men-folk keep away."


  Dialect: The need for isolation.
• "'Not near, not near!' her eyes beseech

  When one of us comes within reach."

  Content: Repetition of 'not near' shows the bride's distress.
• "The women say that beasts in stall

  Look round like children at her call

  I've hardly heard her speak at all."


  Language about nature: Simile shows that the farm animals trust her and look to her for care - may suggest he's jealous of them.

  Form: Rhyming triplet emphasises the narrator's frustration at her wife's behaviour.
• "Shy as a leverset, swift as he,

  Straight and slight as a young larch tree,

  Sweet as the first wild violets, she,


  Content: Repeated use of sibilant sounds emphasises her link with nature. The irregularity of this short stanza could reflect the farmer's growing agitation by this link and his unfulfilled desire for her.
• "To her wild self. "


  Language about nature: connotation both of an unspoilt freedom and of a rejection of people.
• "But what to me?"

  Content: Rhetorical question - breaks his happier thoughts of her in springtime and takes him back to the winter scene.
• "The short days shorten and the oaks are brown,"


  Content: In winter, days are shorter and the leaves have turned brown. Imagery of decay and time having passed.
• "The blue smoke rises to the low grey sky,"


  Content: The idea of nature mingling the smoke with the grey sky. Comparison to 'Lover's Philosophy'.
• "One leaf in the still air falls slowly down,"


  Language about nature: Sad, lonely image - symbolises his sinking hope that she will ever come to him freely.
• "A magpie's spotted feathers lie"

  On the black earth spread white with rime,"


  Language about nature: Winter is used to suggest the decay and death of his hopes.
• "The berries redden up to Chirstmas-time."


  Content: Imagery of time passing with reference
• "What's Christmas-time without there be

  Some other in the house than we!"


  Content: Christmas is about the birth of a child - they have no children because of her refusal of him.
• "She sleeps up in the attic there"


  Content: Clear that the Farmer's Bride does not sleep in the marital bed.
• "Alone, poor maid...


  Content: Sounds sympathetic but also suggests that she is still a virgin - a "maid" is a young, unmarried girl.
• "... Tis but a stair"

  Betwixt us."


  Content: He is aware of her physical closeness adding to his frustration.
• "Oh! my God! the down,"


  Content: The frantic expressions start with these explanations.
• "The soft young down of her; the brown,

  The brown of her -


  Language about nature: 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.
• "... her eyes, her hair, her hair!"


  Content: Frantic-sounding repetition of the half-rhyme "her hair" - he's breaking down and losing control.
• Poet

  Charlotte Mew (1869-1928) published this poem in 1912, She is thought to have been homosexual, at a time when homosexuality wasn't acceptable by society. This might explain the tone of longing and frustration in the poem.
• Content - fear

  A farmer has been married for three years but his bride is frightened of him and other men.
• Content - relationship


  In the poem he tells the story of how the relationship went wrong. He doesn't question whether he has any responsibility for his wife's fear.
• Content - rejection


  He finds her rejection of him almost unbearable, but he expresses his thoughts in a fairly matter of fact way. He desires his wife, and by the end of it seems he may be struggling to resist taking her by force.
• Form

  The poem is a dramatic monologue, (as is Browning's Porphyria's Lover) mostly in iambic tetrameter, with a rhyme scheme that varies through the poem. This helps give the poem a strong rhythm that drives the narrative forward without becoming predictable. It is written entirely from the farmer's point of view.
• Structure

  The farmer tells story of the marriage failing through the first two stanzas, then goes on to discuss how his wife is now, how he feels towards her, his sadness and his desire.
• Dialect


  The poem contains many dialect words, which helps to give a strong sense of the farmer's character. We can hear his voice in his language and in his grammar - this adds to the drama as it helps us picture the people involved.