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Time, Gentlemen (NaPoWriMo 2022 #25)
Sometimes I wonder,
after watching
a period drama
usually Victorian-ish,
what would I
have been
in such times?
And generally
the answer is
that being male
would bring enough benefits
to outweigh
any lack of skills
on my part.
An inquisitive mind
and desire to learn
would probably
have been helpful too.
I would
probably have been
some reclusive
writer or poet,
never did have the stomach
for indulgent banquets;
especially not the money
if still addicted to Tea.
after watching
a period drama
usually Victorian-ish,
what would I
have been
in such times?
And generally
the answer is
that being male
would bring enough benefits
to outweigh
any lack of skills
on my part.
An inquisitive mind
and desire to learn
would probably
have been helpful too.
I would
probably have been
some reclusive
writer or poet,
never did have the stomach
for indulgent banquets;
especially not the money
if still addicted to Tea.
Published 25th Apr 2022
Author's Note
Entry 25 for NaPoWriMo 2022.
Started watching 'Gentlemen Jack'; bugger knows how I would have survived, or rather scarped and fought, if I was a female in the past. But then we're not so fortunate now are we?
Started watching 'Gentlemen Jack'; bugger knows how I would have survived, or rather scarped and fought, if I was a female in the past. But then we're not so fortunate now are we?
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The author encourages honest critique.
I think if I lived in such times I definitely would have ended up as a prostitute and died young from syphillus (or been murdered). Women from money had much more opportunity than women born poor. Even having a job as a housemaid would have been difficult, moreso for any women who caught the attention of a powerful man and ended up pregnant out of wedlock, like they had any say in the matter. We love to romanticise the past, but living it would be something else entirely.
26th Apr 2022 8:29pm
It is easy to look back in comfort at harsher days. If lucky in those days, being a mistress was a gift, while the feckless aristocrat did nothing but leech money off an enterprise that ran on literal blood and sweat. Even if 'blessed' with a child, it wasn't entirely certain that the woman, or even girl, would survive the birth.
25th Apr 2022 9:39pm
hello Lord V I think I was a scullery maid
with a taste for the finer things
wild as the wind not one for court...
who knows what we might have been
loved this...
with a taste for the finer things
wild as the wind not one for court...
who knows what we might have been
loved this...
21st May 2022 3:33pm
My mum has looked back into our family history quite a lot, and unsurprisingly, we were all pointless peasants, char ladies and scullery maids. At least we have more choices nowadays.
21st May 2022 11:57pm
There is some nobility in being anonymous peasantry I suppose: far from the sins of a factory or business owner or plantation owner where such evils hang upon descendant's necks.
22nd May 2022 6:14am
