1. Sister Maude
Christina Rossetti ( )
LO: To be able to understand why the author uses certain techniques in her writing and the effect it has on the reader

2. starter
What do these picture indicate about what the Victorian Era was like? You have 5 minutes

3. How the Victorian era impacted Christina Rossetti’s poems…
The Victorian Era influenced Christina Rossetti’s poems because during her life time British manufacturing had become dominant in the world and therefore trade and finances had grown sufficiently. Rossetti was affected by the growth of the cities, as more and more people moved from the rural areas to the more urban areas of Britain.

4. Christina
The themes of love and death are dominant in her writing, and her poetry often has a religious aspect to it.
Sister Maude’ picks up many of the themes of Rossetti’s life but it isn’t autobiographical. The poem’s story comes from a traditional ballad called ‘The Cruel Sister’.
Rossetti’s relationships never ended in marriage – she was engaged twice, to James Collinson when she was 18 (the engagement lasted two years) and later when she was 36 to Charles Cayley. Both times the engagement broke down because she didn’t want to compromise on her faith.

5. Group work Get into three groups of three and two groups of four.
You will each get an A3 sheet with one stanza of the poem
Make a mind map about what you think the stanza you have received represents
You have 5 minutes then you will share your ideas with the class

6. 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.
The first two lines begin with ‘Who told …’ they is a repetition technique known as syntactic parallelism. The repetition creates emphasis and establishes a hypnotic rhythm.
The three words ‘lurked, spy and peer’ make the pace of the poem suddenly slow down and have a mocking aspect to it.
The narrator echoes the name Maude, making sure the readers know that her sister is the subject of her hatred.

7. The next stanza hits us with a shocking fact
The next stanza hits us with a shocking fact. We immediately infer just from that first line, that the lover is dead.
This statement is an oxymoron, a corpse can not be beautiful after a rough death. It is very obvious that the narrators lover was much loved and spoken of by her in the highest regard.
Cold he lies, as cold as stone,
With his clotted curls about his face:
The comeliest corpse in all the world
And worthy of a queen's embrace.
The narrator noticeably thinks of herself favourably, in the last line she refers to herself a the ‘queen’ (of his heart) which automatically means that Sister Maude is nothing but a pauper.
The word ‘clotted’ suggests he died in a violent manner

8. The repetition of the word ‘soul’ emphasise the importance of religion in the Victorian era.
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.
During all her grief and pain, the narrator still has time to mock her sister. she immediately dismisses Sister Maude’s romantic intentions by shutting down her hopes and speaking for the ‘corpse’.
The alliterative ’s' sounds in ‘soul’, and ‘spared’ convey perhaps hissing jealousy.

9. Again the author uses syntactical parallelism and tells us that her father has passed on, her mother soon to join maybe out of grief at the loss of her significant other.
My father may sleep in Paradise,
My mother at Heaven-gate:
But sister Maude shall get no sleep
Either early or late.
The full colon after ‘gate’ allows reader and speaker time to reflect upon the magnitude of these family losses. It seems also interesting that the repetition of the pronoun ‘my’ underlines the exclusion of Sister Maude from the narrators family.
It becomes very clear at this stage that sister Maude is the cause of their parents death and her punishment will be eternal damnation hence her saying ‘either early nor late’

10. The ‘golden gown’ and the ‘crown’ connote her parents purity and angel likeness. We sense a relief that her parents will be safe in the afterlife
The narrator herself is “unclean” as she believes even she may be forgiven for her sins out of wedlock and her youthful lust this is not completely certain hence the hiatus produced by the full colon at the end of line 4, but there is no hope for sister Maude who’s murderous intent damned her to hell.
My father may wear a golden gown,
My mother a crown may win;
If my dear and I knocked at Heaven-gate
Perhaps they'd let us in:
But sister Maude, oh sister Maude,
Bide you with death and sin.
The additional lines on this last stanza are there to reiterate her hatred of Maude, her outrage at her sisters abject failure as a loving sister.

11. Structure and form
Caesura is used to reflect the speaker's outrage and anger that 'Maude, my sister Maude’ could have deliberately caused such a tragedy
Sister Maude each stanza contains even rhythmic lines and are written in iambic pentameter of blank verse
The rhythmic structure is ABCB
The last stanza though, is written in the rhythmic structure of ABCBDB
The poem is in the form of a dramatic monologue and is written as a ballad

12. Critical terms
REITERATE -a pause or break in continuity in a sequence or activity.
OXYMORON-a figure of speech in which two opposite ideas are joined to create an effect e.g. cruel kindness, living death.
SYNTACTIC PARALLELISM-features in sentences that are grammatically similar or identical in structure, sound, meaning, or meter HAITUS-a pause or break in continuity in a sequence or activity e.g. there was a hiatus in the war with France.
ABJECT-completely without pride or dignity.
CAESURA- a pause near the middle of a line.
BALLAD-a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas.

13. Plenary/ homework
Write a poem as sister Maude, make it in the form of a dramatic monologue. You can create a name for the narrator of Sister Maude Try not to give to much away, still keep the mystery It does not have to rhyme but try to make it do so. THE BEST POEM WILL GET 5 HOUSPOINTS.