Key Quotes & Comparisons
English Lit: AQA GCSE Poetry - Love & Relationships, topic 7.1.3
Key Quotes in The Farmer's Bride
Here are some examples of key quotes from The Farmer's Bride:
‘Her smile went out...'
- ‘Her smile went out, and ‘twasn’t a woman – more like a little frightened fay’.
- Mew uses dialect (words or phrases specific to a local area) to help characterise the farmer and make him seem more real.
‘Shy as a leveret...'
- ‘Shy as a leveret, swift as he, / Straight and slight as a young larch tree’.
- This pair of similes shows the narrator's characterisation of his young bride.
- The comparison to a leveret (hare) and a young tree suggest that she is almost not human.
Never ‘heard her speak at all’
- The narrator laments that he never ‘heard her speak at all’.
- This shows the farmer's frustration at the silence of his wife.
- The poem's form (dramatic monologue) emphasises her silence.
Key Comparisons: The Farmer's Bride
Here are some suggestions for poems you could compare The Farmer's Bride to. Remember, there are endless options!
Porphyria's Lover
- Both feature a male narrator delivering a monologue about a silenced woman.
- You could contrast how Mew’s narrator deals with his feelings.
- Mew's narrator is repressed and filled with longing.
- Browning’s narrator chooses to take control and murder her.
When We Two Parted/Neutral Tones
- You could compare themes of longing, loss and natural imagery.
Test yourself on Key Quotes & Comparisons
Which of these key quotes from The Farmer's Bride contains more than one simile?
Apart from The Farmer's Bride, which poem features a male narrator delivering a monologue about a silent woman?
What theme occurs in The Farmer's Bride, Neutral Tones and When We Two Parted?