Sister Maude
Who told my mother of my shame,Who told my father of my dear?Oh who but Maude, my sister Maude,Who lurked to spy and peer.
Cold he lies, as cold as stone,With his clotted curls about his face:The comeliest corpse in all the worldAnd worthy of a queen's embrace.
You might have spared his soul, sister,Have spared my soul, your own soul too:Though I had not been born at all,He'd never have looked at you.
My father may sleep in Paradise,My mother at Heaven-gate:But sister Maude shall get no sleepEither early or late.
My father may wear a golden gown,My mother a crown may win;If my dear and I knocked at Heaven-gatePerhaps they'd let us in:But sister Maude, oh sister Maude,Bide you with death and sin.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti
'Sister Maude' is one of the poems included in the AQA GCSE anthology in the 'Relationships' selection. It is not a straightforward poem, and it is open to a wide range of interpretations. Rossetti (1830 -1894) is one of the Pre-Raphaelite poets, and the author of the much better know 'Goblin Market. The theme of 'Sister Maude' is sisterly rivalry for the love of a man - a story explored in folk songs such as Two Sisters (performed by Emily Portman) In Portman's version, the older sister murders her younger sister out of jealousy and thereby wins the hand of the man they both love (although justice prevails in the end).
The popular BBC Bitesize analysis says: "Sister Maude explores the destructiveness of jealousy and the darker side of sisterhood. There is a suggestion that Maude's betrayal was unnatural and 'unsisterly'". I would suggest the poem is more ambiguous that this.
Nothing is clear. We know the narrator's lover is dead, but we have no idea how he died. Was he killed? If so, by whom? By Maude? Or did he die by his own hand? The narration is unreliable, told by the heart-broken, deeply bitter sister - a rant at Maude for telling their parents about the narrator's affair. Her one-sided and passionate telling of the story leaves out so many crucial details we may mistrust her. The title - 'Sister Maude' (a phrase repeated several times throughout the poem) emphasizes the relationship between the two warring women, and the unsisterly rift between them. Inevitably, 'Sister Maude' also brings to mind the idea of a nun, a religious affiliation. The theme of religion, heaven and salvation is a strong ribbon running through the poem. Was Maude religious? Did she report the affair to their parents because she feared for her sister's honour and her soul? The narrator suggests Maude acted out of jealousy and spite ('Though I had not been born at all, He'd never have looked at you') but how far do we believe her?
Rossetti sets up many questions but she gives us no answers. Like detectives we pick up the clues and we must read between the lines. It is a puzzle to unravel and one which, ultimately, we can only guess at.
The poem begins with two rhetorical questions, "Who told my mother of my shame, Who told my father of my dear?". The repetition of 'Who told?' when the narrator clearly knows the answer to her own question stresses her fury and passion. The affair is her 'shame' - clearly a love affair outside the realm of propriety. They had to meet in secret. Why was this? Why couldn't the man in question court her openly? He must have been unsuitable in some way - of low social status perhaps, or already married? This affair was the narrator's 'shame'- a sin, something which would be condemned by society.
The words 'lurk', 'spy' and 'peer' are used by the narrator to describe Maude's actions. Somehow Maude has discovered her sister's affair. These words are unpleasant and suggest Maude was sneaking and prying, that she acted in an evil and underhand way to discover her sister's secret.
The second stanza is a romantic eulogy to the dead lover. It is a gothic image, the beautiful corpse, but if he were 'worthy of a queen's embrace' why did the affair have to be carried out in secret? Again, we have only the besotted, outraged sister's point of view. The repetition of the word 'cold', the simile 'cold as stone' and the alliteration on the 'c' in 'cold', 'clotted curls' and 'comeliest corpse' produces a hard sound like a repeated blow - the words intended to strike sister Maude, emphasizing the narrator's rage. Even in death, the lover is beautiful in her eyes. He is comely, his hair is curled, and the idea of his body like stone conjures the image a perfect marble statue.
How did he die? We have no idea. Are his curls clotted because they are thick, or blond like cream - or with blood from an act of violence?
"You might have spared his soul" - clearly the narrator thinks her lover is damned. Is that because of his shameful affair, or because - perhaps - he killed himself when the affair was discovered? Is that how he died?
Perhaps Maude did kill him - but I think this unlikely. In the first stanza, the narrator angrily accuses Maude of telling their parents about her affair - that is the crime she throws in her sister's face. Why would Maude then need to kill the man?
"Have spared my soul, your own soul too." The narrator thinks the affair has also condemned her, that her soul is imperiled. Maude's too - because the narrator holds her responsible for the lover's death?
"Though I had not been born at all / He'd never have looked at you." The words seem almost spat out. You are ugly and undesirable, the narrator is saying. You would never have had a chance with him, even without me in the way (again, I ask myself, if he were such a catch, why was the relationship carried on in secret, why was it her 'shame'? If I were indeed a detective, I might speculate he was married).
The final two stanzas show the narrator continuing to rant and blame her sister. The narrator doesn't take any responsibilities for her own actions, nor does she blame her parents, whose reactions to the affair have clearly proved devastating. No, they 'may' all be allowed into heaven - all except sister Maude. The final line is a curse: "Bide you with death and sin." The narrator will never forgive her sister for telling their parents about the affair. She is blamed for everything - the shame, the death of the lover, the breaking of her heart.
It should be borne in mind that Rossetti was deeply religious and although she was twice engaged, she never married. On both occasions she ended the engagements because she didn’t want to compromise on her faith, and both men fell short of her standards. This was not a woman who believed that romantic passion trumped morality. It is hard to imagine someone who missed out on two marriages for religious reasons would idealize someone who engaged in a relationship of 'shame.'
It is also interesting to compare this poem with another tale of two sisters and a forbidden passion - her more famous work, Goblin Market. In Goblin Market, one sister is led astray and consumes the forbidden fruit. Her sister doesn't condone her sister's action - she sets out to redeem her. At the close of the Goblin Market, Rossetti writes:
"For there is no friend like a sisterIn calm or stormy weather;To cheer one on the tedious way,To fetch one if one goes astray,To lift one if one totters down,To strengthen whilst one stands.”
Did Sister Maude do her sisterly duty and try to fetch her sister who had gone astray? Was Rossetti simply rehearsing the traditional tale of the 'Two Sisters' - or subverting it? Tennyson wrote his own version of the same story which has clear parallels with this one. In Tennyson's poem, the rejected sister is the narrator and she does indeed murder the young man who chose her sister. Similarly we see the focus on the eroticised beauty of the 'comely' corpse, and his curls. Would Rossetti have simply written a (in my opinion) weaker version of the same story, or has she, through the ambiguities and omissions in the story, suggested we should make another interpretation about who is the villain?
For all the puzzles and teasing gaps in the story, I do not think Sister Maude is a poem in the same league as 'Goblin Market.' - or even a rival to Tennyson's version of the same story. The language is pedestrian and the last stanza in particular seems awkwardly phrased, even contrived. Look to Goblin Market to see Rossetti at her best.
Who told my mother of my shame,Who told my father of my dear?Oh who but Maude, my sister Maude,Who lurked to spy and peer.
Cold he lies, as cold as stone,With his clotted curls about his face:The comeliest corpse in all the worldAnd worthy of a queen's embrace.
You might have spared his soul, sister,Have spared my soul, your own soul too:Though I had not been born at all,He'd never have looked at you.
My father may sleep in Paradise,My mother at Heaven-gate:But sister Maude shall get no sleepEither early or late.
My father may wear a golden gown,My mother a crown may win;If my dear and I knocked at Heaven-gatePerhaps they'd let us in:But sister Maude, oh sister Maude,Bide you with death and sin.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti
'Sister Maude' is one of the poems included in the AQA GCSE anthology in the 'Relationships' selection. It is not a straightforward poem, and it is open to a wide range of interpretations. Rossetti (1830 -1894) is one of the Pre-Raphaelite poets, and the author of the much better know 'Goblin Market. The theme of 'Sister Maude' is sisterly rivalry for the love of a man - a story explored in folk songs such as Two Sisters (performed by Emily Portman) In Portman's version, the older sister murders her younger sister out of jealousy and thereby wins the hand of the man they both love (although justice prevails in the end).
The popular BBC Bitesize analysis says: "Sister Maude explores the destructiveness of jealousy and the darker side of sisterhood. There is a suggestion that Maude's betrayal was unnatural and 'unsisterly'". I would suggest the poem is more ambiguous that this.
Nothing is clear. We know the narrator's lover is dead, but we have no idea how he died. Was he killed? If so, by whom? By Maude? Or did he die by his own hand? The narration is unreliable, told by the heart-broken, deeply bitter sister - a rant at Maude for telling their parents about the narrator's affair. Her one-sided and passionate telling of the story leaves out so many crucial details we may mistrust her. The title - 'Sister Maude' (a phrase repeated several times throughout the poem) emphasizes the relationship between the two warring women, and the unsisterly rift between them. Inevitably, 'Sister Maude' also brings to mind the idea of a nun, a religious affiliation. The theme of religion, heaven and salvation is a strong ribbon running through the poem. Was Maude religious? Did she report the affair to their parents because she feared for her sister's honour and her soul? The narrator suggests Maude acted out of jealousy and spite ('Though I had not been born at all, He'd never have looked at you') but how far do we believe her?
Rossetti sets up many questions but she gives us no answers. Like detectives we pick up the clues and we must read between the lines. It is a puzzle to unravel and one which, ultimately, we can only guess at.
The poem begins with two rhetorical questions, "Who told my mother of my shame, Who told my father of my dear?". The repetition of 'Who told?' when the narrator clearly knows the answer to her own question stresses her fury and passion. The affair is her 'shame' - clearly a love affair outside the realm of propriety. They had to meet in secret. Why was this? Why couldn't the man in question court her openly? He must have been unsuitable in some way - of low social status perhaps, or already married? This affair was the narrator's 'shame'- a sin, something which would be condemned by society.
The words 'lurk', 'spy' and 'peer' are used by the narrator to describe Maude's actions. Somehow Maude has discovered her sister's affair. These words are unpleasant and suggest Maude was sneaking and prying, that she acted in an evil and underhand way to discover her sister's secret.
The second stanza is a romantic eulogy to the dead lover. It is a gothic image, the beautiful corpse, but if he were 'worthy of a queen's embrace' why did the affair have to be carried out in secret? Again, we have only the besotted, outraged sister's point of view. The repetition of the word 'cold', the simile 'cold as stone' and the alliteration on the 'c' in 'cold', 'clotted curls' and 'comeliest corpse' produces a hard sound like a repeated blow - the words intended to strike sister Maude, emphasizing the narrator's rage. Even in death, the lover is beautiful in her eyes. He is comely, his hair is curled, and the idea of his body like stone conjures the image a perfect marble statue.
How did he die? We have no idea. Are his curls clotted because they are thick, or blond like cream - or with blood from an act of violence?
"You might have spared his soul" - clearly the narrator thinks her lover is damned. Is that because of his shameful affair, or because - perhaps - he killed himself when the affair was discovered? Is that how he died?
Perhaps Maude did kill him - but I think this unlikely. In the first stanza, the narrator angrily accuses Maude of telling their parents about her affair - that is the crime she throws in her sister's face. Why would Maude then need to kill the man?
"Have spared my soul, your own soul too." The narrator thinks the affair has also condemned her, that her soul is imperiled. Maude's too - because the narrator holds her responsible for the lover's death?
"Though I had not been born at all / He'd never have looked at you." The words seem almost spat out. You are ugly and undesirable, the narrator is saying. You would never have had a chance with him, even without me in the way (again, I ask myself, if he were such a catch, why was the relationship carried on in secret, why was it her 'shame'? If I were indeed a detective, I might speculate he was married).
The final two stanzas show the narrator continuing to rant and blame her sister. The narrator doesn't take any responsibilities for her own actions, nor does she blame her parents, whose reactions to the affair have clearly proved devastating. No, they 'may' all be allowed into heaven - all except sister Maude. The final line is a curse: "Bide you with death and sin." The narrator will never forgive her sister for telling their parents about the affair. She is blamed for everything - the shame, the death of the lover, the breaking of her heart.
It should be borne in mind that Rossetti was deeply religious and although she was twice engaged, she never married. On both occasions she ended the engagements because she didn’t want to compromise on her faith, and both men fell short of her standards. This was not a woman who believed that romantic passion trumped morality. It is hard to imagine someone who missed out on two marriages for religious reasons would idealize someone who engaged in a relationship of 'shame.'
It is also interesting to compare this poem with another tale of two sisters and a forbidden passion - her more famous work, Goblin Market. In Goblin Market, one sister is led astray and consumes the forbidden fruit. Her sister doesn't condone her sister's action - she sets out to redeem her. At the close of the Goblin Market, Rossetti writes:
"For there is no friend like a sisterIn calm or stormy weather;To cheer one on the tedious way,To fetch one if one goes astray,To lift one if one totters down,To strengthen whilst one stands.”
Did Sister Maude do her sisterly duty and try to fetch her sister who had gone astray? Was Rossetti simply rehearsing the traditional tale of the 'Two Sisters' - or subverting it? Tennyson wrote his own version of the same story which has clear parallels with this one. In Tennyson's poem, the rejected sister is the narrator and she does indeed murder the young man who chose her sister. Similarly we see the focus on the eroticised beauty of the 'comely' corpse, and his curls. Would Rossetti have simply written a (in my opinion) weaker version of the same story, or has she, through the ambiguities and omissions in the story, suggested we should make another interpretation about who is the villain?
For all the puzzles and teasing gaps in the story, I do not think Sister Maude is a poem in the same league as 'Goblin Market.' - or even a rival to Tennyson's version of the same story. The language is pedestrian and the last stanza in particular seems awkwardly phrased, even contrived. Look to Goblin Market to see Rossetti at her best.
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