Miss Lloyd Has Now Went to Miss Green

Miss Lloyd Has Now Went to Miss Green

Miss Lloyd has now sent to Miss Green,
As, on opening the box, may be seen,
Some years of a Black Ploughman's Gauze,
To be made up directly, because
Miss Lloyd must in mourning appear
For the death of a Relative dear--
Miss Lloyd must expect to receive
This license to mourn and to grieve,
Complete, ere the end of the week--
It is better to write than to speak

In this poem, Jane Austen uses a lot of symbolism and indirect ways to say certain things. By research, we know that Miss Green is a dress maker and Austen wrote this as a letter to Miss Lloyd to try to cheer her up because Lloyd's mother had just passed away. The 8th and 9th lines say, "The license to mourn and to grieve, complete ere the end of the week" which shows the time period of how they are only allowed a certain time period for their mourning. In line 2 she says "As, on opening the box, may be seen," which is a symbol for the casket of a dead person at a funeral. It also says "Miss Lloyd must in mourning appear," that word "appear" makes me think that she's not actually sad but she has to look like she is because that is what is expected of her.

I've A Pain In My Head

I've A Pain In My Head

'I've a pain in my head' 
Said the suffering Beckford; 
To her Doctor so dread. 
'Oh! what shall I take for't?'

Said this Doctor so dread 
Whose name it was Newnham. 
'For this pain in your head 
Ah! What can you do Ma'am?'

Said Miss Beckford, 'Suppose 
If you think there's no risk, 
I take a good Dose 
Of calomel brisk.'--

'What a praise worthy Notion.' 
Replied Mr. Newnham. 
'You shall have such a potion 
And so will I too Ma'am.' 

"I've A Pain in My Head" is a narrative poem about a lady named Beckford who goes to see a doctor about her head hurting. In the second stanza the doctor says "For this pain in your head, ah! what can you do ma'am?" The doctor doesn't know what to give the lady for her pain, so she comes up with an idea and they both end up taking it. Austen uses some passive language in this poem like "whose name it was Newnham" instead of how we would just say "the doctor's name is Newnham." It's strange for a doctor to not know what medicine to give a patient and especially end in the patient suggesting her own treatment. 

Happy the Lab'rer

Happy the Lab'rer

Happy the lab’rer in his Sunday clothes!
In light-drab coat, smart waistcoat, well-darn’d hose,
And hat upon his head, to church he goes;
As oft, with conscious pride, he downward throws
A glance upon the ample cabbage rose
That, stuck in button-hole, regales his nose,
He envies not the gayest London beaux.
In church he takes his seat among the rows,
Pays to the place the reverence he owes,
Likes best the prayers whose meaning least he knows,
Lists to the sermon in a softening doze,
And rouses joyous at the welcome close.

In Happy the Lab'rer Jane Austen uses strong imagery to describe the appearance and setting. In the beginning of the poem Austen describes the man in his Sunday clothes and at the end describes the church scene. In the second and third line she says "In light-drab coat smart waistcoat, well darn'd hose, and a hat upon his head, to church he goes." By clearly stating what the man is wearing we can clearly picture it in our heads. At the bottom of the poem she says "In church he takes his seat among rows, pays to the place his reverence he owes, like best the prayers whose meaning least he knows, lists to the sermon in a softening doze." The scene is explicit and easily we easily understand that it is about a man in church listening to a sermon. With a little research have also found that this poem is a product of a game that Jane Austen's family would play in which they would see who could write the longest poem with the lines all rhyming with the word "rose."