The Story and Key Themes
Ever wondered what happens when someone is forced into marriage? This poem tells the disturbing story of a young bride who becomes terrified after her wedding to an older farmer. The husband chose her "three summers" ago, suggesting she was very young and had no real choice in the matter.
The bride's transformation is immediate and dramatic. She goes from being a normal girl to being "afraid of love and me and all things human" - showing how patriarchal marriage has destroyed her spirit. Mew uses the metaphor of "the shut of a winter's day" to show how quickly the bride's happiness disappeared.
When the bride runs away, the entire village hunts her down "like a hare" - animal imagery that shows how she's been reduced to prey. The farmer locks her away, demonstrating the controlling nature of Victorian marriages where women were essentially prisoners.
Key Point: The poem criticises how women in Victorian times had no agency in marriage and were treated as property rather than equals.
