Godiva Analysis

Godiva- Analysis

The narrative poem ‘Godiva’, published in the midst of the woman’s movement, 1842. Godiva was an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry, in order to gain a remission of the oppressive toll imposed by her husband on his tenants. In the Victorian period, the women’s movement looked to Godiva as an inspiration for disempowered women. She is seen as a woman who breaks out of the stereotype that women belong in the private, domestic domain.
This kind of positive representation of women in literature, especially by a male poet, was relatively unheard of in Victorian England, suffice it to say, the power of narrative as told by Tennyson aided greatly in the ongoing battle for gender equality.
‘Godiva’ opens in self-dramatizing first person with an autobiographical epigraph in Tennyson’s own words in which he describes how he ‘waited for the train at Coventry’ -remarkable in and of itself given that he was writing in the early years of the industrial revolution- and saw the ‘three tall spires’ of Coventry cathedral which inspired this retelling of the ancient legend.
For the retelling of the story we move from the industrial Coventry, back to medieval ages and this accentuates the fact that we are being transported to a simpler time, from then on the poem has a strict linear chronology. Tennyson then employs a reverential third person narrator for the duration of the poem. This allows for the reader to form their own opinion on the moral, whether we can still learn from the past or if it cannot be applied to modern day situations.
The narrative is recounted in blank verse through five stanzas of irregular length. The iambic pentameter used is an imitation of the rhythms of speaking, which could link back to the traditional oral way of telling stories.
Direct speech breathes some life into the characters of the story and makes them seem more like real people. Often in myths and legends we forget that the people in them are actually real. This allows us, the reader, to sympathise more with Godiva’s cause as we can actually hear exactly what she thinks and says to the Earl, this Justifies her trip through Coventry in the nude, “ ‘ You would not let your little finger ache for such as these?’- But I would die’ “
In stanza 4, Godiva undresses to prepare her parade through the town. In becoming naked, she sheds the cultural trappings, the crests of her subjection: the crown, the belt, her rich robes, she steps out as herself. Here she dissolves the plural pronouns, the grammars of possession, the feudal hierarchy of marriage. Godiva then lets down her hair and by doing so Godiva is bringing the privacy of her nakedness and her loosed hair into the public realm. In medieval times women only let their hair down in front of their respected husbands, so she is treading away from her principles and leveling herself to that of the town’s people. If a woman were to venture out into the public sphere, it would be seen as an act of ‘highly sexualized self-exposure’. Tennyson draws on this notion to its full extent in ‘Godiva’.
Tennyson presents Godiva to have “ridden forth” on a horse. Godiva being on horseback supplements the eroticism of the poem, and this is a source of her power. During her ride through the town, Tennyson uses punctuation to slow the pace, leaving us to anticipate the conclusion in the same way Godiva must have done. Later in the poem is a moment of erotic vision, this is the moment in narratives where a man looks at a woman and recognizes her true, innate power. In Godiva, this is when the ‘low churl’ spies Godiva through an ‘auger-hole’ whereupon his eyes shrivel and drop out of his head, reminiscent of the legend of Medusa.

Pathetic fallacy is used throughout Godiva’s naked streak through the town. The ‘low wind hardly breathed for fear’ – showing that her display of nakedness is so shocking and surprising that even the wind itself is gasping. It also encourages the reader to hold their breath in expectation. Silence is used to great effect within Godiva, to make us wonder and be in awe of Godiva undressing and parading through the town. The whole poem makes the reader stop and think about what is happening as everything is so silent. There are contrasts between noise and silence, such as the exclamatory speech of Godiva and the Earl such as “Alas!” in comparison to the serenity displayed whilst Godiva is undressing. Also the dynamic movement of the poem reflects that Godiva is forever moving, this emphasises her proactivity and makes the poem exciting.
Onomatopoeic language dominates these final two stanzas such as “the barking cur”, “palfrey’s footfall shot” and “clash’d and hammer’d”. While Godiva’s horseback journey is rife with assonance, mimicking the eerie tranquility of the town.
In today’s society and even the Medieval times, some hierarchical opposition that represent the imbalance of equality between men and women such as dominance and submission, active and passive, powerful and powerless. All these stigmas strengthen the assumption that men are the superior and women are the inferior sex. Godiva subverts this when she displaces the stereotypical gender roles of men. ‘Godiva’ portrays a woman who although still bound by her womanhood in a phallocentric society is taking a step towards escaping her position as weak and helpless.