Poems and Favourite Poems

by Jane Austen, Douglas Brooks-Davies (Editor)

Note on the text:
Jane Austen's poems are mainly found in her Juvenilia and letters.
The texts in the present edition follow, for the most part, those in The Works of Jane Austen, vol. VI, Minor Works, revised B. C. Southam (London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1969). Spelling and punctuation have been modernised.
The interested reader is recommended also to consult Jane Austen's Letters, ed. Deirdre Le Faye, 3rd edition (Oxford, New York; Oxford University Press, 1995) and Jane Austen: Collected Poems and Verse of the Austen Family, ed. David Selwyn (Manchester: Carca- net, 1996).
Texts of all other works anthologised in this edition are elther from first editions or from editions avallable in Jane Austen's lifetime. Spelling and punctuation have again been modernised, with the exception of geographical names in Scott's poems, and the retention of conscious archaisms (e.g., 'ladye' in Scott's The Lay of the Last Minstrel).

Genres: Poetry

101 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1898

About the author

Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works are an implicit critique of the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her deft use of social commentary, realism and biting irony have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars.

The anonymously published Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), were a modest success but brought her little fame in her lifetime. She wrote two other novels—Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1817—and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons.
Since her death Austen's novels have rarely been out of print. A significant transition in her reputation occurred in 1833, when they were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series (illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering and sold as a set). They gradually gained wide acclaim and popular readership. In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience. Her work has inspired a large number of critical essays and has been included in many literary anthologies. Her novels have also inspired many films, including 1940's Pride and Prejudice, 1995's Sense and Sensibility and 2016's Love & Friendship.

Reviews

[May Phoenix · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,75⭐️

Jane Austen's poems were as witty as her writing, but I was surprised to find so many of the poems that had been inspiring to her to be rather melancholic.