Montagu, “Champagne and a chicken”

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

Read By: Robert Pinsky

We’ve talked about what makes a poem qualify as a sonnet, but how can the form be stretched? The poems in this section combine traditional elements with a number of surprises. A woman, not a man, an 18th-century poet, not an Elizabethan, Montagu in her poem makes a refreshing alternative version of love, represented by the couple enjoying, together, champagne and a chicken.

  • Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
  • 18th Century
  • English
  • Teasing, Flirting & Courting
  • Lecture
  • Teasing
  • Love
  • The Art of Poetry