What’s the Point?
- A dramatic monologue in the voice of a farmer who wants a wife like he wants a new sheep: she’s just another farm animal to cook, clean, help out and have babies.
- The wife isn’t very into being an animal (there's a surprise!): in fact, she’s completely freaked out by him.
- The farmer doesn’t understand why she’s so scared of him despite his creepy obsession with her body hair.
Where’s my Evidence?
- “chased her"
- “turned the key upon her fast”
- “shy as a leveret, swift as she”
- “flying like a hare”
- “the brown, the brown of her”
- “her hair, her hair, her hair”
- “her wide brown stare”
How do I Analyse this?
Form: Dramatic monologue. In the tradition of dramatic monologues you have to read between the lines to actually understand what’s going on. The Farmer is confused that his wife doesn’t love him but the fact that he “chased her” and “turned the key upon her fast” (rhyme) gives us some clues about his attitude towards her.
Imagery: All the imagery of wild animals: “shy as a leveret” (simile), suggests that she cannot be tamed. She is a free spirit who feels trapped on a farm. She is not a domestic animal. His obsession over her body (repetition) suggests a kind of animal lust that is not reciprocated and reinforces her wildness.
Structure: The first three stanzas have a galloping, iambic tetrameter rhythm which makes the farmer sound simple and thoughtless. It also makes the chase sound fast and fierce. In stanza four the rhythm changes and becomes far more pulsing and steady. This reflects how the Farmer's Bride is out of rhythm with the community around her. Notice the strength but also the flow here, created by use of enjambement and sibilance. She is a force of nature.
The structure becomes really fragmented at the end - see use of hyphenation and repetition. He's almost speechless with lust and frustration. How long till be climbs those stairs? Remember, rape within marriage was not recognised in law until the 1990's. He might have thought that it was his right, even his duty as a husband to climb those stairs and 'possess' his wife.
What is the Reader supposed to feel?
I feel a range of things as I read this: firstly, I feel pity for The Farmer's Bride - she seems so trapped and the imagery of the hunt presents her as a victim. However, I also admire her courage and strength in running away. The shift in rhythm in the fourth stanza suggests to me that she is unusual and different to those around her. Maybe she's just in the wrong place at the wrong time? I think the farmer is a brute but I know that some people feel sorry for him. Considering the time the poem is set in and his cultural background, he does seem to show some restraint in this icy marriage. I don't see a happy ending for either of them. They are so fundamentally mismatched.
How can I Link this to what the writer is saying?
So why did Mew write this poem? What is she saying?. I think she's commenting on the position of women in society in the early twentieth century. The Farmer's Bride is literally and spiritually trapped in her life and I believe that Mew wants us to empathise with how trapped a woman could be in this world. The Farmer's Bride has no choice but to endure however, she doesn't really seem to have the mental ability to cope with this life. Mew's family all suffered with mental illness and maybe she's trying to show how family dynamics can lead to terrible situations resulting in madness, depression and suicide.
How can I Link this to another poem?
The Manhunt - conflict in marriage but in a more emotionally connected way
To His Coy Mistress - another unpleasant man, another dramatic monologue
Ghazal - a stronger female voice and use of natural imagery
BBC Bitesize
A* extension
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