All the bumbling and ineffectual attempts of the animals to subdue the archrogue Reinaert add up to a strong impression that the epic was composed in this 13th-century form for the enjoyment of the newly confident 'middle' class of the Flemish cities.

Her brothers call Mary Poor Mary, and indeed the meagreness and timidity of many of the women in their family has caused that word to be attached to the names they were given at their christening ― names that were themselves altered into something less substantial and graceful. Isabel became Poor Tibbie, Margaret, Poor Maggie, Jane, Poor Jennie.

They had also seen a Lockwood show home utilizing a mix of timber and gibbed walls.

Frail snowdrops that together cling / and nod their helmets, smitten by the wing / of many a furious whirl-blast sweeping by.