The poem "The Griesly Wife" tells the story of a husband and wife. One night while it is snowing outside, the wife suddenly leaves their home barefoot. The husband becomes worried for her safety. He searches through the snow but cannot find her. Later, the wife returns home, but she has been transformed into a frightening creature. She attacks and kills the husband. The poem suggests the wife was somehow possessed or transformed into a monster who hunts down and kills her own husband.

1. The Griesly Wife

2. Task 1
Explain the story of “The Griesly Wife” in 50-100 words.
You should think about the following aspects of the
poem:
• The characters
• The setting
• The key events
• What the characters say
• What the characters do
• The thoughts and feelings of the characters
• The ending

3. Analysing Ballads
Quotation Chains
What does the reader learn about the character of the
wife in the poem?
Example
Manifold describes the setting of the poem “The Griesly
Wife” in stanza two. This is evident in the phrase: “The
snow lay thick, the moon was full/And shone across the
floor.” These words suggest that the poem is set at night
in the winter. This makes the actions of the wife seem
more surprising because she leaves the house
barefooted, even though the weather is cold. The fact
that the wife leaves so quickly could suggest that she is
feeling frightened or is worrying about something.

4. Write a quotation chain for two of the following
points:
1. The poet describes the husband’s feelings in stanza four.
2. he husband’s feelings change in stanza six.
3. The husband suspects that something has happened to his
wife in verse seven.
4. The poet describes the husband’s thoughts and feelings in
stanza eight.
5. The wife begins to hunt her husband in stanza nine.
6. Manifold suggests that the husband has been killed in
stanza ten