GCSE (9-1): Literature: Poetry: AQA Love and Relationships: The Farmer's Bride: Form

form of 'The Farmer's Bride'

dramatic monologue, a popular Victorian poetic form

the human condition

the experiences, emotions, needs etc that all people share, especially considered as a situation from which it is impossible to escape; the general condition of human life including psychology, sociology, politics, etc

general function of the dramatic monologue

to dramatise the human condition

main characteristics of a dramatic monologue

a dramatic speaker, a defined listener, a developing action in the present and the gradual ironical revelation of the character of the speaker and the implication of another action in the past

important qualities of the dramatic speaker in a dramatic monologue

the speaker is not to be confused as the author; the speaker is an imagined persona who often teeters on the verge of madness or delusion

dramatic speaker in 'The Farmer's Bride'

a farmer who follows tradition and does not understand his 'bride's' behaviour - he is not mad, but he treats her as if she is mad and so he portrayed as deluded

the function of the dramatic speaker

poets use real, fictional, mythical and historical personae as an alternative means of exploring what it meant to be a woman - or at times, a man; they often used this technique to challenge gender, racial, social and religious expectations through the characters they create

the dramatic monologue and sympathy

Dramatic monologues are seen as a method for inviting sympathy for the speaker; we judge them but we are also sympathetic towards them

sympathy for the speaker in 'The Farmer's Bride'

the treatment his 'bride' receives from him is cruel, but he does not intend to be cruel; he is only doing what he thinks is socially and naturally prescribed; Mew is not criticising, the man, but rather the social structures that make people think it is correct to force women to do things they don't want to do

defined listener in 'The Farmer's Bride'

this is the only major quality of a dramatic monologue that 'The Farmer's Bride' is missing - there does not appear to be a defined listener in the poem

a developing action in the present

the farmer is trying to come to an understanding about why his 'bride' does not feel to him the same way he feels to her

the gradual ironical revelation of the character of the speaker

we find out that even though he appears cruel at the beginning, it is not intentional; his actions, ie, choosing a bride, chasing her, fetching her home and locking her up are simply actions that are socially, and even naturally, prescribed, in his mind

the implication of another action in the past

his panicked, unintelligible speech in the final stanza suggests that he may have forgotten her in the attic and she may have died