[Susan McLean]

Bruce Bennett:
I have selected two from among several worthy ballades. I couldn’t resist “Ballade Of Madame Bovary,” pitch-perfect in its worldly-wise and disillusioned voice and equally adept in its easy mastery of the form. In fact, the entire poem reads so smoothly and effortlessly that there is not a great deal that needs to be said about it.


BALLADE OF MADAME BOVARY

Was it for this I learned to read
And write and bake a cherry pie?
I was romantic – “All I need
Is love!” was my incessant cry.
But girls, however hard you try,
How long you work, how much you fret,
You’ll meet the same reward as I –
A country doctor’s all you get.

A wife is only fit to breed
Her brats and sing their lullaby.
Oh, had I only given heed
To those sweet nuns who glorify
The Lord in prayer, and daily die,
I might have been a virgin yet.
But marriage makes the world a sty –
A country doctor’s all you get.

I learned to do adultery’s deed:
I took two lovers – one a sly
And skillful horseman (I the steed
He rode with such an expert thigh).
My second love was sweetly shy,
An easy fish in rapture’s net.
But when I needed cash – good-bye!
A country doctor’s all you get.

L’Envoi

Girls, never raise your hopes too high.
Lower your standards, and forget
The dream of catching a rich man’s eye--
A country doctor’s all you get.


At the risk of stating the obvious, I like how the poem begins with a question, which immediately receives its despondent response, citing the reason for the speaker’s current miserable condition. I like too how it then directly addresses its audience, girls who, despite anything they might do, are inexorably bound for the same fate, that “reward” here bemoaned by poor Madame Bovary: "a country doctor."

Her summary dismissal of the role of wife at the beginning of stanza two could hardly be more succinct. And the third through sixth lines of that stanza are wonderfully rueful. Oh, the pain of that regret! Had she only listened to those sweet sisters, she might still have been able to devote herself to the Lord and “daily die,” having remained a blessed virgin, But, of course, it’s too late for that now; there’s no hope. She has been contaminated by the “sty” of marriage.

Her brief account in stanza three of her vain attempts to save and free herself through adultery (twice) is memorably phrased; one marvels at that characterization of her shared activity with the “sly and skillful horseman,” and “An easy fish in rapture’s net” is an inspired line. And then the Envoi very neatly ties everything up.

You may not have read Madame Bovary since college, when you were probably too young and inexperienced to understand it anyway. If that’s the case, “Ballade of Madame Bovary” is a delightful way to renew your acquaintance with the book. Spark Notes may be more detailed, but they are far less entertaining to read.

[Petra Norr]

Well written, but is it well composed?
What I miss in the poem is motivation for the repeating line. If you don't know Bovary (I read it years ago and remember it only in a sketchy way), you can read the poem and ask, "what's so bad about being married to a country doctor?" In fact, I think nowadays a country doctor has a sort of romantic shimmer over it just as a country vet does (the latter thanks to Herriot, of course). At the end of the poem there's a slight suggestion that you don't have much money if you're married to a country doc ("when I needed cash"). But on the other hand, if it's lack of money she regrets, why then does she wish she had stayed a virgin, or become a nun(?) -- that wouldn't have brought in any money either. The envoi makes things clearer in a sense, but there's still no motivation in the main part of the poem, and that weakens the poem, in my opinion. Maybe it would have been better if this ballade had gone off on a track all its own and spoofed the novel, or added humor to it, or given it a special edge to make us see it in a new way, instead of playing it safe but vague.

[Andrew Frisardi]

The poet obviously had fun writing this. The form fits the function so well—the respectable French wife with an ironic twist.

I’m not sure about lines 3-4. If “All I need is love” was her incessant cry, and she was so romantic, her advice to the girls at the end—a more cynical view of love—contradicts that.

The repetend at the end of the third stanza seems off, since the previous line is in the past tense. The switch to the present tense for the repetend makes it feel forced, whereas it arises naturally in the other stanzas. The natural wording in this case would be, “A country doctor’s all I got,” but obviously that won’t do either. I think this bit needs fixing.

Very much enjoyed this ballade. The rhymes and the flow of it feel almost effortless.

[Tim Murphy]

This is only the second entree that totally carries me with it.

[Catherine Chandler]

I immediately thought of Millay's "Grown Up" ("Was it for this I uttered prayers . . ." at the first sentence, and hoped this one would be as witty. I'm afraid I was hoping for a slightly naughtier lightness and was disappointed.

[Michael Cantor]

My reaction was similar to Catherine's. The poem is very well done, I have no nits or problems with the execution, but the smooth narrative lacks a spark for me, the voice is too humdrum, I don't get a sense of passion, there's not enough fun and games in the retelling. Emma may be on meds these days.

[T.S. Kerrigan]

The problem with the husband is not that he is a country doctor, but that Flaubert makes him a churl and a fool, who audibly sucks his teeth at meals.

[David Rosenthal]

It is well-written, as are all the entrants so far. It seems witty enough, but as someone unfamiliar with Madame B (oh poorly read David R!) I had to rely on the poem for characterization, which struck me the way it struck Cathy and Cantor. I am not the ideal reader for this, though, so others might take more from it.

Also, a tiny nit: the comma after "Girls" in the envoi caused me to stress the word which lead to a clunky five-beat line. In fact, it ws a strain for me to correct it and demote "girls." I think the envoi, especially in the first line in a poem that wants to bite and be witty, should be unmistakebaly sharp. Clearly other readers didn't have this trouble, so again it is likely my shortcoming not the poem's or the poet's.

David R.

[Jean L. Kreiling]

I found much of this engaging--fun and dark at the same time.

Like Petra, though, I found the introduction of the "cash" theme a bit incongruous. And I was disappointed that the envoi reinforced that theme instead of the frustrations that took up most of the rest of the poem.

Catherine, I thought of Millay, too, but a different, more serious poem: "For this your mother sweated in the cold, / For this you bled . . ." ("To Jesus"). The tone of the Bovary ballade is of course neither as serious as that one nor as flippant as "Grown Up." In fact, I'm still trying to decide which tone wins here--the bitter or the playful.

I do love "an easy fish in rapture's net."

Best,
Jean

[Quincy Lehr]

I know and love the novel, and like so many canon poems, this piggyback ride on someone else's creativity adds nothing. Well-wrought, impoverished, and bloodless.