Augusta Webster’s “The Castaway”

Possibly you should divide this poem into approx. 200 line segments for reading and discussion.

1. What is meant by the poem’s title? What emotions does it seem intended to invoke? Would the effect have been different if the speaker were named, e. g., “Eulalie’s Plea,” or some such?

2. What is the effect of casting the poem as a dramatic monologue? What is the poem’s verse form?

3. How does the speaker feel about her own girlhood? Why do you think these reflections were chosen for the opening segment? What seems to be her attitude towards her present self? Towards her physical appearance and moral character?

4. What beliefs about prostitutes does the speaker indicate were common during the Victorian period? Which of these do you think this poem is designed to counteract or refute?

5. What criticisms does the speaker make of those who condemn her? Of the practitioners of other occupations? Of Victorian wives? Is the audience expected to agree with all of her points?

6. How does she react to the pious tract which condemns harlotry? Why does solitute especially bother her?

7. What information does she give about her past? What controversial choices has she made, and what were her motives? Why did she leave the home for fallen women?

8. Did her fellow women help her? What attitude does she express toward men, and what do you think motivates this? What are her employment prospects? What does she propose as a solution to the problem of prostitution? Why do you think the author presents a character who advocates female infanticide?

9. What memories does she have of her own mother? Of her life as a governess? Why did she lose her job? What opinions does she hold about marriage? Under what circumstances did she lose her own child?

10. How was she treated by her brother? What circumstances made his rejection especially galling? What irony is suggested by the choice of the name Clement?

11. What does the poem seem to indicate about notions of choice and free will? What are the speaker’s views on this, and are we expected to agree fully?

12. What does the poem’s ending reveal about the speaker’s view of her present life? How would you describe the speaker’s attitudes toward others? What topics do you think Webster hoped her reader would think about after reading the poem? Which parts of the argument/poem did you find most effective?