Henni Baumwald English 10A Mr. Bruner May 14, 2024 Jane Kenyon Between the 1960’s and 1990’s, Jane Kenyon wrote poetry depicting both life and death. Beginning early, Jane Kenyon starts her writing journey while attending the University of Michigan, where she earned the Avery Hopwood Award in 1969 for her poetry (Guide to the Jane Kenyon Papers). As well as beginning her career, during her time in Michigan, Kenyon receives her diagnosis of depression, challenging her because it alters her mentality. Although Jane Kenyon started writing in high school and college, she stated in an interview that she “didn’t really get going” or become too involved in serious writing until she moved to Eagle Pond Farm in New Hampshire with her husband, Donald …show more content…
After receiving her diagnosis, she began to cherish the precious moments of her life. She continuously interrupts many lines of the with the word, otherwise, portraying her intrusive thoughts about death and her mortality (Analysis of Otherwise). At the start of her day she “[gets] out of bed on two strong legs”, but the author adds “it might have been otherwise” (1-4) because she wants the reader to understand the fragility of life (Morin). She then describes her breakfast, including her “sweet” (5) milk and “flawless” peach, but ends it with adding a part about how it could have been otherwise (6). Later in the stanza, she recounts her activities from that morning, all of which she “love[s]” (12). The next stanza begins at noon with her and her husband laying down for a nap, then sitting down at a table to eat dinner together alongside “silver candlesticks” (17-18). After dinner, they settle down for the night in a bedroom to plan out another day “just like this day” (24) because she recognizes that one day, “it will be otherwise” (26). Her hopes for a life full of days similar to the one she describes in the poem because she knows someday, they will vanish …show more content…
2024. The. Baldwin, Emma. A. “Happiness by Jane Kenyon.” Poem Analysis, 24 Apr. 2024, poemanalysis.com/jane-kenyon/happiness/. Barber, David. A. Review of Constance: Poems by Jane Kenyon. Poetry Criticism, edited by Janet Witalec, vol. 93. 56, Gale, et al., 2004. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/H1420058765/LitRC?u=mdk12btdcs&sid=bookmark-LitRC&xid=59f8e55c. Accessed 4 Apr. 2024. The. Originally published in Poetry, vol. 78. 164, No. 2 -. 3, June 1994, pp. 113-114. 161 - 164. “Guide to the Jane Kenyon Papers, 1961-1995.” Library, 22 Jan. 2020, library.unh.edu/find/archives/collections/jane-kenyon-papers-1961-1995#::text=Although%20Kenyon%20started%20to%20write,the%20move%20to%20Eagle%20Pond. Accessed 04 Apr. 2024. The. “Happiness.” Enotes.com, enotes.com, www.enotes.com/topics/happiness-jane-kenyon/in-depth. Accessed 14 May 2024. Ipl.org. “Jane Kenyon Let Evening Come Analysis.” Essays, Research Papers, Term Papers, 19 Feb. 2021, www.ipl.org/essay/Jane-Kenyon-Let-Evening-Come-Analysis-PJQJRYYUTZT. “Jane Kenyon.” Poets.Org, Academy of American Poets, 20 June 2023, poets.org/poet/jane-kenyon. Accessed 04 Apr. 2024. The. “Jane Kenyon.” Poets.Org, Academy of American Poets, 20 June 2023,
When most people think of Texas legacies they think of Sam Houston or Davy Crockett, but they don’t usually think of people like Jane Long. Jane Long is known as ‘The Mother of Texas’. She was given that nickname because she was the first english speaking woman in Texas to give birth.
Her poem switches from positive to negative. She starts the poem with the story of the mother spider and her babies which has a happy ending, but then she goes into talking about herself. In Marie Howe’s essay, she says “…a white frame house, and rising, / and I thought of a room it was shining in, right then, / a room I might live in and can’t imagine yet.” From this quote we notice that she is imagining a house that she could possibly live in one day. Maybe it’s the man’s house and she is thinking one day she could live there with him, but not yet. She says “And this morning, I thought of a place on the ocean where no one is, / no boat, no fish jumping, / just sunlight gleaming on the water, humps of water that hardly break.” This quote provides a sense of loneliness, to think of a place on the beach that is deserted, there are no other people, little noise, and there is nothing there to keep you company. Then she says, “We argued about one thing, but really it was another,” this shows that there was a lack of communication between the two, which could cause Howe to feel like she was alone. Part of one of her quotes, “unbroken by footprints”, created a huge sense of loneliness. She is all alone, awaiting the return of the man she loves, and he hasn’t yet shown up. The fact that the path leading to the front door hasn’t been walked on in two days, would make the reader wonder if anyone besides the man would normally visit her, or if Howe has even left her home in those two days. The last line in her poem is “Anything I’ve tried to keep by force I’ve lost”, and she uses this to provide a sense of emptiness. The movement of her poem from positive to negative is what helps create that feeling of being
Sometimes all one needs to create a better condition is putting in a little effort. However, as the poem implies, it is easier to do nothing for staying in a comfort zone is better than achieving a better condition. She complains of the heat in the room because the sun for sunlight pours through the open living-room windows. All she needs to do is get up and close the windows, but she won't do it either. She also reveals the futility of trying to get out of the meaningless routine that people adopt. In an attempt to be proactive, she thinks about the essence of living and is almost convinced that routine is the nature of life. She thinks for a long time and thinks again but ironically, the same routine chores distract her yet again. She goes to buying a hairbrush, parking, and slamming doors. At the end, she gives up on finding the essence of living; she wants to do things like she has always done
Jane presents one aspect of woman in The Waking collection (1953): Ross-Bryant views Jane as a young girl who is dead. The poem expresses concern with the coming of death. This poignant elegy is presen...
In this essay I am going to discuss two poems. "Woman Work" written by Maya Angelou, is about a woman who works all the time and just wants to rest. The second poem is called "overheard in County Sigo" written by Gillian Clarke which is about a married woman having a conversation with her friend about her life and looking back at what her ambitions were.
O'Hara, Frank. "The Day Lady Died." The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. Ed. Jahan Ramazani et al. 3rd ed. 2 vols. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2003. 2: 365.
In romantic words, the poet expresses how much she thinks of love. She stated it was clear that she would not trade love for peace in times of anguish. Shift: after line 6 of the poem, there is a shift. In the beginning of the poem, the poet outlines the list of things that love cannot provide for the people who are willing to die. The narrator outlines the basic necessities like food, shelter, and health.
In Gwendolyn Brook’s Kitchenette Building the audience is able to see her unique writing style by taking her own life experiences and creating a poem that can s...
These final words sum up her feeling of helplessness and emptiness. Her identity is destroyed in a way due to having children. We assume change is always positive and for the greater good but Harwood’s poem challenges that embedding change is negative as the woman has gained something but lost so much in return.
"Characteristics of Modern Poetry - Poetry - Questions & Answers." ENotes - Literature Study Guides, Lesson Plans, and More. Web. 09 Jan. 2012. .
This is shown through the tone changing from being disappointed and critical to acceptance and appreciative. The speaker’s friend, who after listening to the speaker’s complaints, says that it seems like she was “a child who had been wanted” (line 12). This statement resonates with the speaker and slowly begins to change her thinking. This is apparent from the following line where the speaker states that “I took the wine against my lips as if my mouth were moving along that valved wall in my mother's body” (line 13 to line 15). The speaker is imagining her mother’s experience while creating her and giving birth to her. In the next several lines the speakers describe what she sees. She expresses that she can see her mother as “she was bearing down, and then breathing from the mask, and then bearing down, pressing me out into the world” (line 15 to line 18). The speaker can finally understand that to her mother the world and life she currently lived weren't enough for her. The imagery in the final lines of this poem list all the things that weren’t enough for the mother. They express that “the moon, the sun, Orion cartwheeling across the dark, not the earth, the sea” (line 19 to 21) none of those things matter to the mother. The only thing that matter was giving birth and having her child. Only then will she be satisfied with her life and
There have been many American poets throughout the centuries, but none compared to Robert Frost and Jane Kenyon. Jane Kenyon and Robert Frost can make the simplest thing, such as picking a pear, into something darker. Often Jane Kenyon and Robert Frost compose themes of nature, loneliness and death into their poetry. Both poets evoke feelings and stimulate the reader’s sensory reactions. Jane Kenyon’s Poem Let Evening Come (1990) and Robert Frost’s Poem Desert Places (1936) may have been written in different eras, but both poets collaborate nature, spirituality and emotional solitariness in their poems.
Kenyon, Jane. "Poetry 180 - The Blue Bowl." Library of Congress Home. Web. 11 Dec. 2015.
Marianne Moore ranked with Emily Dickinson among America’s finest woman poets. Moore crafted her poems superbly. She generally used poetic forms in which the controlling element is the number and arrangement of syllables rather than c...
of the difficulty in acceptance. In the first few stanzas the poet creates the impression that she