Verses

1803? to 1817
Jane Austen
Verses
B-

This group of Austen's poems, some of it undated, does include the very last thing she wrote, Venta, Written at Winchester on Tuesday the 15th July 1817, three days before her death.  Like so many of the poems here, it shows a playful whimsy.  My favorite is "Mock Paneyric on a Young Friend," which compares the friend to America, including "her wit [that] descends on foes and friends like famed Niagara's Fall."  There are a few serious poems as well, like the one in tribute to her friend Anne Lefroy.

Taking the length of the works into consideration, this collection of Minor Works actually averages out to a B.  Although it's an Oxford Illustrated Edition, it does have flaws, such as the biographical note on the dust jacket, where Austen is said to have been the sixth of seven children (rather than seventh of eight) and to have died in 1815.  Still, it is a nice handy format for so many small pieces, as well as a glimpse into the less well-known parts of a brilliant writer's mind.