Cousin Kate

I was a cottage-maidenHardened by sun and air,Contented with my cottage-mates,Not mindful I was fair.Why did a great lord find me outAnd praise my flaxen hair?Why did a great lord find me outTo fill my heart with care?

He lured me to his palace-home –Woe’s me for joy thereof –To lead a shameless shameful life,His plaything and his love.He wore me like a golden knot,He changed me like a glove:So now I moan an unclean thingWho might have been a dove.

poor

Unaware of her beauty

Repetition stresses her

regret Suggests a predator

sadness

Simile – she is disposable

No longer a virgin Symbol of purity

O Lady Kate, my Cousin Kate,You grow more fair than I:He saw you at your father’s gate,Chose you and cast me by.He watched your steps along the lane,Your sport among the rye:He lifted you from mean estateTo sit with him on high.

Because you were so good and pureHe bound you with his ring:The neighbours call you good and pure,Call me an outcast thing.Even so I sit and howl in dustYou sit in gold and sing:Now which of us has tenderer heart?You had the stronger wing.

He raised your status from rich to

poor

Contrast between her

and Kate

O Cousin Kate, my love was true,Your love was writ in sand:If he had fooled not me but you,If you stood where I stand,He had not won me with his loveNor bought me with his land:I would have spit into his faceAnd not have taken his hand.

Yet I’ve a gift you have not gotAnd seem not like to get:For all your clothes and wedding-ringI’ve little doubt you fret.My fair-haired son, my shame, my pride,Cling closer, closer yet:Your sire would give broad lands for oneTo wear his coronet.

If he had used you, like he did me, I would not have

married him

Contrasting feelings about her

son

Your father would give anything for you to have a son

Links to the other poems?Betrayal…• Kate betrays her cousin, the Lord betrays her too. • Soldiers in “Exposure” are betrayed by those at home. • Family in Parade’s End are betrayed by community.Judgement…• Society judges her for being “fallen”. • People judge others in “Half-Caste” and “Class Game”Family Conflict…• Conflict between her and her cousin• Conflict between mother and daughter in “Catrin”• Conflict between whites and blacks in “Our Sharpeville”