Sister Maude

Sister Maude

Themes
1. Death
  1. She killed the narrators lover
    1. "You might have spared his soul, sister"
    2. "clotted curls about his face"
      1. Hair full of blood (Clotted)
        Hit over the head
2. Revenge
  1. Starts with a rhetorical question
    1. Talking directly to Maude
      1. Doesn't want answers or excuses
    2. "Who told my mother of my shame?"
3. Jealousy and Bitterness
  1. "He'd never have looked at you"
Imagery
1. Religious
  1. "Paradise"
  2. "Heaven-gate"
  3. "golden gown"
  4. "Sin"
  5. Narrator feels Maude should be damned to Hell
  6. Ironic how she is called 'Sister' Maude
    1. Title given to Nuns
2. Death
  1. "Cold as stone"
  2. "spared his soul"
  3. "comeliest corpse"
Alliteration
1. Used to echo narrators feelings
2. "Cold he lies, as Cold as stone with his Clotted Curls about his face
  1. Letter 'C' is plosive
    2. echoes her anger
    3. Dramatic emphasis of horror
3. "The Comeliest Corpse"
4. "Sister Maude, oh Sister Maude, bide with you heaven and Sin"
  1. 'S' makes a hissing sound
    1. Narrators satisfaction of Maude going to hell
Structure
1. Rhythm
  1. Regular
  2. One line is out of place- shorter than the rest
    1. "Either early or late"
      1. Describing what will become of Maude
    2. Wants Maude to die soon
2. 5 Stanzas
  1. First four are Quatrains
  2. Last one has 6 lines
    1. Extra two sums up the narrators anger at Maude
      1. "But Sister Maude, Oh Sister Maude. Bide with you death and sin"
  3. Third line uses a Caesura
    1. break in the middle of a line
    2. "Oh who but Maude, my sister Maude"
      1. Pause reflects narrators anger
Repitition
1. Maudes' name is repeated alot
  1. Shows intensity of narrators feelings
    1. Very Angry
Relationships
1. The Lover
  1. Second Stanza shows narrators passion for him
    1. His once beautiful hair is "clotted" with blood
    2. Uses an Oxymoron
      1. When described his as "comeliest corpse"
        Suggesting even as a corpse he is still handsome
        Still deserves the love of a Queen
        ""worthy of a queens embrace"
        He was a good man
  2. Lower class than Narrator
    1. "of my shame"
      1. Premarital?
  3. He died in sin
    1. "spared his soul"
      1. Never had chance to make amends
      2. Did Maude directly murder him?
2. Maude
  1. Relationship with her has never been good
    1. "lurked to spy and peer"
      1. She has often tried to get narrator in trouble
        Unpleasant, untrustworthy and nosy
    2. "Oh who but Maude"
      1. This is a normal thing for her sister to do- always been like this
  2. Sister has always been jealous
    1. Sibling rivalry
      1. "He'd never have looked at you"
        Did she love him to?
        Jealous Suicide?
  3. "shall get no sleep"
    1. She will be damned in hell
  4. Stops addressing her directly
    1. "But sister Maude shall get no sleep"
3. Parents
  1. Father
    1. Dead
      1. "My father may sleep in Paradise"
    2. "Wear a golden crown"
      1. Reward for good life
  2. Mother
    1. Dying
      1. "My Mother at Heaven-gate"
    2. "a crown may win"
      1. Good person

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	Created by simmysqueak about 11 years ago