The Young Widow by Jean de La Fontaine

Name: The Young Widow
Author: Jean de La Fontaine

The Young Widow portrays the swift change from extravagant mourning to renewed desire for pleasure and marriage. A young wife loses her husband and, bending over his deathbed, declares that her soul wishes to follow him. Her prudent father does not immediately interrupt her grief, but later urges her to live for the living rather than ruin her beauty in sorrow. He does not press her into an immediate new marriage, only asks permission, in due time, to find her a husband as worthy as the deceased. The widow insists that cloister vows would suit her better than another spouse. Yet after a month of mourning, she begins altering her mourning clothes day by day, turning them into increasingly ornamental attire. Love, jokes, laughter, and dancing return, and she immerses herself in youth and amusement. Seeing that she is no longer devoted to grief, her father remains silent; she herself finally asks him where the young husband is whom he had promised her.

By Jean de La Fontaine · First published 1668 · Genre: Fable, Satire, Narrative Poetry · 629 words

First lines

A husband's death brings always sighs; / The widow sobs, sheds tears -- then dries. / Of Time the sadness borrows wings; / And Time returning pleasure brings. / Between the widow of a year / And of a day, the difference / Is so immense, / That very few who see her / Would think the laughing dame / And weeping one the same. / The one puts on repulsive action, / The other shows a strong attraction. / The one gives up to sighs, or true or false; / The same sad note is heard, whoever calls. / Her grief is inconsolable, / They say. Not so our fable, / Or, rather, not so says the truth.

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Genres

Fable — The poem presents a concise fictional exemplum with an explicitly stated moral observation about the transience and performative nature of widowhood and grief.
Satire — It satirizes conventional displays of mourning, exposing the young widow's supposedly inconsolable sorrow as rapidly replaced by fashion, amusement, and a desire to remarry.
Narrative Poetry — The work tells a complete story in verse, using dialogue, chronological development, characterization, and an ironic resolution.
Moral Poetry — Its central purpose is didactic: it comments on human inconsistency, emotional impermanence, and the difference between public expressions of grief and private desire.

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The Young Widow is listed on Textopian as a fable by Jean de La Fontaine, dated 1668 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

Work type: Fable
Author: Jean de La Fontaine
Date: 1668 CE
Language: English
Genres: Fable, Satire, Narrative Poetry, Moral Poetry, Comedy
Length: 629 words
Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)

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