I like to play around with different poetic forms to make parodies of classic literature and popular culture. This is a poem that I wrote about Mrs. Bennet, the mother from Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice. The poem form is a trenta-sei (Italian for “thirty six”). The basic guidelines are:
–Six sestets (or six-line stanzas)
–Each sestet has the rhyme pattern ababcc
–Each line of the first stanza makes the first line of the corresponding stanza. So, line one is the first line of the first stanza, line two is the first line of the second stanza, etc.
There are no rules about meter, so I wrote it in iambic pentameter, because why not.
Flighty Schemes and Universal Truths
A single man of fortune needs a wife–
Why shouldn’t he choose from the Bennet clan?
To marry off my girls consumes my life,
For Longbourn is entailed upon a man.
And now that Netherfield is let at last,
My schemes and plans must be enacted fast!
Why shouldn’t he choose from the Bennet clan?
I have five girls–he’s sure to favor one.
They all would make good wives for any man,
Especially a rich one from the ton.
He needs a wife to care for his estate.
My girls are beautiful–it must be fate!
To marry off my girls consumes my life.
It occupies my mind quite constantly.
Oh, no one understands my daily strife,
And no one feels for my anxiety!
We must find them good husbands who will suit,
Or else our girls will be quite destitute!
For Longbourn is entailed upon a man–
Yes, Mr. Bennet’s cousin is the one,
That odious Mr. Collins! He will plan
To live here, and there’s nothing to be done!
He’ll take it all when Mr. Bennet’s dead,
And this is why I lived in constant dread!
And now that Netherfield is let at last,
A wealthy man come to our neighborhood,
A man of property and fortune vast,
His need to take a wife is understood.
I’m sure one of my girls will catch his eye.
That they are lovely, no one can deny!
My schemes and plans must be enacted fast!
We must make his acquaintance right away
Before the opportunity has passed
And others put their daughters on display.
This is the way to keep my girls from strife–
This single man of fortune needs a wife!
A couple of notes for those who aren’t familiar with the novel–
Ton is a term used for the upper class in English society.
Entailed means that the property can only pass to those who meet certain conditions–in this case, Longbourn estate must pass to a male heir. Think of it as a will attached to a property instead of a person.