The New Mother by Lucy Clifford

Now the mother and Blue-Eyes and the Turkey and the baby all lived in a lonely cottage on the edge of the forest. The forest was so near that the garden at the back seemed a part of it, and the tall fir-trees were so close

that their big black arms stretched over the little hatched roof, and when the moon shone upon them their tangled shadows were all over the whitewashed walls.

Page 1

She wore no bonnet, and an old yellow handkerchief which she had tied round her head had fallen backwards and was all huddled up round her neck. Her hair was coal black and hung down uncombed and unfastened, just anyhow. It was not very long, but it was very shiny, and it seemed to match her bright black eyes and dark freckled skin. On her feet were coarse gray stockings and thick shabby boots, which she had evidently forgotten to lace

up.

Page 3

He was playing on a flute that had a strange shrill sound; they could hear it plainly above the jangling of the peardrum. After the man followed the two dogs, slowly waltzing round and round on their hind legs.

Page 16

The New Mother

Mysterious

Disapproval

SUMMARY

by Lucy Clifford

Page 12

"They had left the village and walked some way, and then, just before they reached the bridge, they noticed, resting against a pile of stones by the wayside, a strange dark figure...then they saw that it was a strange wild-looking girl."

"Then the mother became really angry at last, and sent them off to bed...

And when the mother saw all that they had done she did not scold them...but she just broke down and cried...

Lucy Lane Clifford

Page 2

"Mrs. W.K. Clifford"

Page 13

• 2 August 1846 – 21 April 1929

• British Novelist & Journalist

• Popular works: Mrs Keith's Crime, Aunt Anne, and The Anyhow Stories: Moral and Otherwise

Magical/Fantastic

• setting

Tone

• riddles

Theme

"People go and people come; first they go and then they come. Perhaps she will go before she comes; she couldn’t come before she goes. You had better go back and be good,"

Page 14

• tiny people, dancing dogs, glass eyes + wooden tails

Ending

Beginning

Naughty = Cool

Don't be naughty!

Symbolism

= Rewarded

“A little shabbiness is very respectable,”

Page 5

• stories that parents use for their children
• consequences

It requires a great deal of skill,

especially to be naughty.

Page 6

fair

• sitting on the peardrum

Village

Girl

• tempter/temptation

• corruption
• disorder
• worldly
• material

At first they thought it was a baby, but when, on seeing them coming towards her, she carefully put it under her and sat

upon it, they thought they must be mistaken.

Contrast

"coal black hair"

"black eyes"

"dark skin"

Corruption

DEVIL

Page 3

Village Girl

Old Mother

Peardrum

• twisted the children's perception of good and bad

false

happiness

instead of crying and being really sorry at her anger they laughed for joy, and when they were in bed they sat up and sang merry songs at the top of their voices

Has a baby

Has a peardrum (which is like a baby)

Page 12

}

Village Girl a REVERSAL

of the Old Mother

Going to her "own land", "many miles away"

Going to sea and sailing to far countries

New

Mother

• consequences

"snatches of songs"

Chimpanzee song

dragon-like tail

=

devil, monster

IMAGERY

In the beginning of the story, the cottage was full of life, warmth and happiness. After the new mother arrives, it is bolted and sealed like a tomb who shelters the devil.

Chimpanzee song

Oh, sweet and fair’s the lady-bird,

And so’s the bumble-bee,

But I myself have long preferred

The gentle chimpanzee,

The gentle chimpanzee-e-e,

The gentle chim--

Simile

Alliteration

Personification

"the walls were as white as snow" Page 1

Sources

"the little flames leaping and playing among the wood and coal" Page 19

Metaphor

Lucy Clifford. (2016, October 12). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 06:09, October 12, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lucy_Clifford&oldid=743954593

"Evidently they were dancing dogs, the children thought" Page 2

"It was not very long, but it was very shiny, and it seemed to match her bright black eyes and dark freckled skin." Page 3

Anaphora

Silver, Anna Krugovoy. "The Didactic Carnivalesque in Lucy Lane Clifford's "The New Mother"" SEL Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 40.4 (2000): 727-43. Web.

"On they all went, farther and farther away, till they were separate things no more, till they were just a confused mass of faded colour, till they were a dark misty object." Page 18

"People go and people come; first they go and then they come. " Page 14

FIGURES OF SPEECH