Maud Part 1 12 - Analysis

Introduction

The speaker recalls an evening scene in which birds call out for Maud while he stands with her among lilies. The tone is at once admiring and wistful, intimate in the depiction of a simple kiss but edged by social distance and an outside suitor. A slight shift moves from pastoral tenderness to a hint of rivalry and social warning toward the end.

Relevant context

Tennyson often blends Victorian social concerns with pastoral and romantic feeling; the poem’s attention to rank, propriety and the suitor’s rejection reflects contemporary worries about class, courtship and reputation. The voice is personal and lyric, typical of Tennyson’s dramatic monologues though here focused on private emotion rather than grand public statement.

Main themes

Love and desire: The speaker’s affection is evident in tactile images—he “kiss’d her slender hand”—and repeated refrains naming Maud emphasize obsession and longing. The lilies and daisies underline an innocent, almost sacramental love.

Social distance and pride: The speaker notes Maud is “not seventeen, / But she is tall and stately” and confesses to “cry out on pride,” implying admiration mixed with frustration about barriers between them. The interjection “Go back, my lord, across the moor / You are not her darling” introduces class or rival-status tensions.

Nature as witness: Birds and flowers consistently observe and announce Maud’s presence; nature amplifies human feeling and acts as chorus, both celebrating and publicizing the private moment.

Symbols and vivid images

Birds function as a communal chorus: their repeated crying of “Maud, Maud, Maud” turns private feeling into public proclamation and suggests fate or gossip. Lilies and daisies signal purity and the trace of passage—“her feet have touch’d the meadows / And left the daisies rosy”—linking Maud physically to the landscape and marking the speaker’s memory. The “horse at the door” and “little King Charles is snarling” introduce social intrusion and aggression; the snarling dog or restless horse symbolizes an outside claim on Maud and a challenge to the speaker’s intimacy.

Conclusion

The fragment balances tender pastoral imagery with social unease: love is both idealized and jeopardized by rank and rivalry. Through chorus-like nature, intimate gestures, and a final brusque warning, the poem captures a moment where affection, reputation and public notice collide, leaving the speaker’s devotion vivid but precarious.