Greetings, Poetry Lovers! In a few weeks, on the 16th of December, Jane Austen fans will have something to celebrate – the 250th anniversary of her birth in Hampshire, England. (Those of us in the U.S. can revel in her delicious words and wit before turning our attention to the 250th birthday of our nation, just around the corner. But, I digress. Though I do want to make sure you know "The American Revolution" by Ken Burns premiers Sunday evening on PBS, with episodes each night next week!)
Of course, Austen is best known for her novels: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion. Which is your favorite? I'm not alone in my devotion to Pride and Prejudice. (I find it astonishing that she first drafted this work, originally called First Impressions, when she was just 21. I think I still have a college essay for my British novel class about mirrors and such, titled, "Reflections on – and in – Pride and Prejudice.")
The Austens loved poetry, too. Jane had one beloved sister, Cassandra, and six(!) brothers.
Jane even wrote some poetry herself, many pieces humorous. She appreciated the poetry of Sir Walter Scott and William Cowper.
At the Jane Austen House website – which you must visit if you're still reading this, and especially if, like me, you haven't yet made it to Chawton – you'll find wonderful details about Jane's life and works. In fact, this weekend is the last for an exhibit, "The Poetry Bookcase," a "specially created installation" bringing together "poems that Jane Austen and her family knew and loved." On October 6, 2022, for National Poetry Day across The Pond, poet and Creative Engagement Officer Ellora Sutton offered a short feature on Jane Austen and poetry here.
I love that Sutton included a poem by Jane's mother, the elder Cassandra Austen - a response to a family competition to write as many rhymes for "rose" as possible.
My work being done, I look'd through the windows,
And with pleasure beheld all the bucks and the does,
The cows and the bullocks, the wethers and ewes.
To the library each morning the family goes,
So I went with the rest though I felt rather froze.
My flesh is much warmer, my blood freer flows,
When I work in the garden with rakes and with hoes.
Delightful!
Jane does reference poetry in her novels, of course. Don't you love this exchange between Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy, also in the piece?
"I wonder who first discovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love!"
"I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love," said Darcy.
"Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away."
(I can't read that passage without hearing the voices of Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen from the Joe Wright 2005 adaptation. And, yes, I took myself to an actual theater when it came to a local venue for the 20th anniversary earlier this year.)
The Jane Austen House has offered a lovely podcast his year, A Jane Austen Year. It's the accompaniment to a book of the same name you can learn about at the site. "A Jane Austen Year is a mindful, soothing and uplifting podcast that transports you to Jane Austen's House in Chawton… Each month, join us on a seasonal journey through Jane Austen's novels, the story of her life and the world she lived in." I love that the narrators are people who staff the house/museum, and original music and sounds were recorded on the premises. You can sample the first episode at the link.
But wait – there's more! The Jane Austen House's annual lecture is next Thursday, November 20, and we're all invited – on YouTube, anyway. Salley Vickers will present "The Difficult Miss Austen" and discuss "some of the more subversive and socially critical elements in Jane Austen's novels, as well as the dangers and difficulties that women experienced…." Note that the 8 p.m. time on the website translates into hours earlier in the states, 3 p.m. for those of us on Eastern Standard Time. Here's the link.
Just a couple-few more things I've treated myself to this year: Lucy Worsley's 2017 Jane Austen at Home: A Biography, and also
Rebecca Romney's Jane Austen's Bookshelf: A Rare Book Collector's Quest to Find the Women Writers Who Shaped a Legend (February 2025), which I haven't read yet.
I did purchase a used copy of Miss Austen by Gill Hornby (2021) because I wanted to read it before watching the PBS series which debuted this year. It's a fictional story told from sister Cassandra's perspective. You can still find the series on PBS (available on Passport) and Amazon Prime Video, as well as another outlet or two.
Finally, you might have noticed above that I felt the call to commemorate Jane's birthday with a new item in my shop, an ornament made with an original sketch of the author. There is only one portrait of Jane's face in existence, a loose pencil sketch by her sister, Cassandra, made around 1810. (Cassandra had made an earlier rendering of Jane in blue dress and bonnet, but her face wasn't visible.) Decades later, their nephew commissioned an engraving based on the facial sketch, which itself was based on a watercolor interpretation of the sketch by James Andrews. This engraving is the image most of us are probably familiar with, and it appears on the ten-pound bank note. There are various thoughts and opinions on all of this by scholars, of course – I'll let you find those rabbit holes if interested. (Here's one.) And here is London's National Portrait Gallery page with Cassandra's sketch.
For my ornament, I brewed some proper English tea, put on some classical music, and made my own little sketch with colored pencils, some gouache, and a touch of pen and ink. It's far from perfect, but Cassandra's wasn't either! I printed the image on high-quality Moab paper with Epson pigment ink and set the image under a glass cabochon. It hangs in a brass/alloy setting with a gold-plated pewter book charm adorning the top and has a vintage yellow ribbon. (Austen referenced shades of yellow a few times in her works.)
Cheers to you, Jane!
Lace up those walking boots and head over toThe Apples in My Orchard, where the lovely Carol has our Roundup this week.
