The Badly Married or Rhyme of the Old Man and the Girl is an anonymous, satirical, and didactic poem from the 15th century or the early 16th century, concerning the age and socially mismatched marriage of a young girl to an old man, who offers as a wealthy dower clothing, money, and even real estate.

Narrated (and possibly written) by a seasoned and outspoken woman, the poem mainly addresses unmarried girls, warning of the consequences of such a marriage. The filthy, weak, and sexually impotent old husband, the bitter experiences of the young woman whose only hope is to soon become a widow, and the pleasures of love between two young lovers compose the different aspects of a popular literary theme with a long tradition.

Contrary to the perception that associates old age with wisdom, the lovesick old man finds himself among the comic characters of Menander, Plautus, and Erasmus, while the complaint of the young woman who is forced to marry an old man is also a known theme in Boccaccio as well as in medieval French and Italian satires of the badly married.

Equally widespread as the literary theme is the iconographic theme of mismatched couples, particularly during the 16th century and the early 17th century, in Germany and the Low Countries.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]