Friday, March 11, 2016

Jane.

 In an essay style post, describe the speaker’s attitude toward his former student, Jane. Elegy for Jane by Theodore Roethke

An Elegy for Jane

19 comments:

  1. The absence of Jane in the teacher's life makes apparent his profound love and appreciation for such a wonderful girl who passed away. This is most strongly depicted in this poem through the use of imagery.
    The speaker in the poem has an attitude of caring and respect for his student. The eloquent language used when the imagery is presented sets a tone of pain from what is lost but happines and joy about the beautiful mellowness of Jane's life. The speaker compares Jane to things that are not necessarily happy, but breathtaking and natural. Twigs, shade, and a bleached valley are not as beautiful as flowers, sun, or a flawless mountaintop, but they sing her song and describe the truth of her life.
    The speaker does not exclude the troubles in Jane's life either as one stanza is spent talking about the times she fell into such a sadness that she stirred even "the clearest water." In the final stanza, it can be told that she was troubled when the author used the word "maimed" to describe her. The speaker loves her with her troubles, nevertheless, because he is able to see her beauty and love her anyway.
    The teacher is not oblivious to the hardships in Jane's life, but rather tries to accept her a sense from the world. Birds such as the sparrow and pigeon fly high away from the mess of life in the wind, so like them, he knows that Jane will be safe, even though he has the cold grave to look at.

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    1. I like how you made the distinction between the happiness and the beauty of the natural imagery. It's true that the imagery the speaker used was very pretty. But the images weren't necessarily flawless. The depths of those aspects of nature held deeper truths. For example, the shadows and the mold, while a part of the exquisiteness of nature, are not particularly happy. However, without them, nature wouldn't be nature. Everything is made up of both good and bad.

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    2. Grace you did a nice job at describing the importance of imagery in this poem. The speaker really used contrast in the imagery between describing Jane and his feelings after her death. I think the shifts between paragraphs allow for the change in imagery to really shine through in the poem. This allows for the poem's deeper meaning to be revealed.

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    3. Grace, I really like the comparisons you made about the way death pulls people from troubles just how birds fly away from threatening environments. After reading your enlightening comparison there, I see a link between the bird who flies and how her sadness took her down low. There is a height discrepancy between the two.

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  2. Throughout the poem, Jane, the speaker implores descriptive imagery and delicate language that allows her true feelings for the young student to show through. The use of these devices gives the speaker a means for showing his feelings of deep affection and distant love for his student.
    The first stanza starts off with the use of imagery to describe the student. Through the use of words such as light, delight, and neck curls, the speaker creates an air of light and warmth around the young girl. The second stanza uses a metaphor in regards to the young girl being like a wren. The metaphor of the wren gives the reader a deeper understanding of Jane without ever describing her directly. The metaphor of the wren allows the reader to picture Jane more fully as a light and floating character.
    There is a shift between the second and third stanza where the speaker begins to portray Jane in her sadness. Jane cast herself into a deep sadness, one where she was untouchable. The speaker's recognition of this fact and the other habits of his student show his distant but thorough observation of her. This goes to show that he truly cared for her by knowing all of her small idiosyncrasies.
    There is also a shift between the third and fourth in which the fourth stanza. In the fourth stanza the speaker takes a more internal point of view and describes his sadness at the death of Jane. Words like wet stones, moss, and wound contrast the light descriptions that are used at the beginning of the poem. These words also help to show the deep anguish that the speaker is going through. The fifth stanza continues with this and addresses Jane and the grief of the speaker. The last three lines of the poem embody the meaning of the work as a whole. The teacher is standing over the grave of his student with deep grief. He loves his student deeply, but however he feels as though he has no place being there. He is not family or a father to the girl but feels this same sense of love and affection for her. The speaker finds himself lost in the matter because he loves the girl so deeply, but is not truly connected to her.

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    1. This is a very good blog, Abbey. I believe that I misinterpreted parts of this poem because I was under the impression that Jane was a happy but troubled girl and that the teacher loved her anyway. The shifts that you mentioned really help to make pieces of the poem stand out where it is important.

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    2. I agree with your analysis. The speaker feels lost after the death of his student, but does not feel as though he deserves to feel sad. While he may have loved her, he didn't really know her very well. He makes this internal struggle known to the reader with diction and imagery. This poem was interesting to analyze because each reading seemed to bring up a new point to explore.

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  3. When confronted with the death of a former student, a professor has to consider life and death. He is troubled by the student's untimely death because he loved her, but in a professional manner. In fact, he did not actually know the student all that well, but he fondly remembers her presence in his class. Through the use of imagery and tone, the speaker makes known his feelings of love and respect for Jane, who passed too soon.
    Roethke establishes the tone of the poem to be rather light hearted but somber. The first two stanzas are very lighthearted as he remembers her best traits and how she brought joy to everything. It turns very somber though when he talks about how she was sad a lot and how he missed her very much.
    The imagery in this poem helps set up the aforementioned tone. He talks about her looks calls her a wren and a sparrow. This metaphor of referring to her as a bird perfectly sets up the line about her song. The constant references to light also seem to imply that the professor thinks she is in a much better place (possibly Heaven if that's what the professor believes in. The poet never makes clear what this better place may in fact be)
    The professor loves the student and very sad that she is gone. But he also recognizes that this is part of life. Through the use of literary devices, Roethke makes his complex feelings of love and longing for the former student of his known to the reader.

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    1. The tone does change quite a bit as the poem goes on. The first few stanzas are rather reminiscent, while the last few are filled with tender longing. I think that mirrors the grieving process very well. After getting over the initial shock of death, we find light and happiness in the memories. But there are still times when we are burdened by these memories, as they bring back a sense of longing. After my grandma died, my family found comfort in the beautiful memories we had of her. But there are still times, even now, when I revert back to sadness.

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    2. The imagery and tone of this poem were the biggest parts in my opinion. They contributed to one another and helped the reader understand how the professor felt. I liked how you brought up that the references to light may symbolize a better place. This idea did not occur to me, but it seems so obvious now that you pointed it out.

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    3. I do not think that the teacher loves Jane in a professional manner. I feel like in the last stanza, it seems clear that even though he believes he has no authority, he loves Jane as more than just the care an instructor has for a pupil of any random scenario. I think with the somber tone, he cone plates his love for her the entire poem until he finally comes to that conclusion at the end.

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    4. I also do not agree that he loved Jane professionally. He was obviously emotionally invested in his student, a point that was made prevalant throughout. The last stanza really drove home the point abot how much he loved the girl, almost like she was family. This is why he is so distraught over her death.

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    5. I do not agree that he was emotionally invested or cared solely in a professional tone. I believe the speaker is coming from a place of understanding how death has a far more reaching grasp than just those with an intimate relationship with the deceased individual. The teacher sees the repercussions of death by noticing how nature loses someone with their unique and beautiful abilities. Speaking from personal experience, i have never had anyone close to me die so I am not accustomed to feeling an intense loss, but I always feel somewhat affected by the death of others. Because even though they are not close to me, they are close to someone who must be feeling an intense grief. It is also very odd to think while you're still breathing, someone is done.

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  4. In the poem, "Elegy for Jane," Theodore Roethke discusses the love of a teacher for his former student who has passed on. The speaker of the poem was quite fond of the girl, and this is especially evident in his detailed descriptions of her. By including such devices as imagery, symbolism, and tone, the speaker is able to express his attitude of admiration and platonic love for his former student.
    Perhaps the most prominent literary device utilized in this poem is imagery. The speaker uses imagery to depict the the various aspects of the girl's being, both through physical descriptions as well as descriptions of her unique aura. He uses a great deal of natural imagery, describing her curls as "limp and damp as tendrils," much like a plant, and relating her smile to a "pickerel." He also relates the girl to a bird, saying "her song trembl[ed] the twigs and small branches." In this way, the speaker is able to depict the girl with fondness, proclaiming the impressive strength of her words. By saying that the whispers of the leaves "turned to kissing," the speaker also implies that the world around her was greatly impacted, and that the affinity he expresses for the girl was not uncommon. Through this use of imagery, the speaker is able to make clear the immense appreciation and love he harbored for his former student.
    The speaker also uses symbolism in a similar way to express the less noticeable truths about the girl, but still to make the point that he loves her all the same. In the second stanza, the speaker claims that "the shade sang with her" and "the mold sang in the bleached valleys under the roses." While these may appear to simply be more implications of imagery, there may be a more symbolic meaning. The majority of the imagery in the poem is light and pleasant. However, the shade as well as the mold are aspects that contrast this theme. The shade may be meant to represent the less appealing side of the girl, the side she kept hidden. And the mold could symbolize the unpleasant parts of the girl that she carried with her, allowing them to fester and infect some parts of her. The speaker works to point out the fact that while darkness was a part of her, she did not allow it to consume her, and this made the speaker love her all the more.
    A final device utilized in this poem is that of tone. There is a certain fondness that exudes from the tone of the speaker, and it is carried throughout the poem. The poem begins with the phrase "I remember," indicating that the speaker is being sentimental, looking back on a significant time in his life. In the fourth stanza, he addresses the girl directly using the term of endearment, "my sparrow." In the fifth stanza, he does the same, addressing her as "my maimed darling." This adds to the tone of tender love that extends through the poem. The use of pleasant imagery also works with the tone to indicate the innocent love the speaker possesses for the girl. The final line of the poem is also quite significant in that it solidifies the tone. The line "neither father nor lover" makes the point that the love the speaker holds for the girl is not romantic, nor is it familial. Rather, it is innocent and platonic, and really rather beautiful, mirroring the aura of the poem.

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    1. P.s. I didn't realize how long this was till I posted it. Oops #Yolo

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    2. Wow Mary...really long blog there. But that's alright. You get your point across all the same. I agree with you on the imagery paragraph. There is abundant imagery in this elegy which the poet uses to describe the feelings of love that the professor feels door the student. I also agree when you point out that the love that the professor feels for the student is purely platonic in nature. I'm glad you also thought that, because I got thrashed over on my blog for thinking that.

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  5. In Theodore Roethke's poem "Elegy for Jane" the speaker laments the death of his former student who was thrown from a horse. Using several literary devices, the speaker eloquently conveys the depth of his feeling for his student, while at the same time characterizing the distance between them.
    Imagery is the most prominent literary device used in this poem. Most of the imagery is connected to nature. The speaker describes Jane's hair as "limp and damp as tendrils," in order to tie her to nature. Her smile, song, and other important aspects of her persona are all related to different parts of nature in the rest of the poem. The speaker also describes Jane as a "wren," "sparrow," "pigeon," "fern," and "pickerel." All of these entities are associated with calm and innocent settings. By relating Jane to naturally peaceful images, he speaker offsets the violent nature of her demise. Jane becomes almost a martyr, someone who died without reason in the face of an inherently good life. These images are tempered by the professor's loss, and may not accurately describe Jane as she was while she was alive. In the third stanza, the speaker describes Jane's sadness as being so deep "even a father could not find her." For an outsider such as a teacher to be able to see that Jane was filled with such sadness that no one could rescue her seems to convey a student that was depressed. Such an illness would not tie in with a calm, tranquil nature image.
    The tone of this poem helps convey the deep sadness the speaker feels. He balances the happiness he finds in her memories with the harsh reality that she is no longer alive. When remembering her in the beginning of the poem, he associates his feelings with soft sunlight and a light wind. The tone conjured by these images helps the reader understand his distant affection for her, an affection like the sun or wind has for the earth. Next, he remembers her sadness while she was alive and also how he could not help her. He felt helpless in this situation, and his tone conveys the sadness he felt at this time. When confronted with her death, he feels lost. He feels as though he has no right to be so sad because he barely knew Jane. Overall, the tone shows how he professor moves through different stages of grief; reminiscing, sadness, and confusion.
    The emotions of the professor in regards to Jane are complex. He loved her in his own way, but does not feel that his emotions were strong enough to warrant the intense sadness he feels after her death. By recharacterizing her in his memories, he is able to ease some of the pain associated with her death. As he works through his emotions, the speaker undergoes many of the same frames of mind that anyone goes through when they lose a friend. Loss is hard to cope with, but he seems to find comfort in his memories of his student.

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    1. Ashley, I really enjoyed reading your blog as always. You point out though how sad the student was in real life. I wonder though if this is just the professor expressing his sadness of the event. Instead of her being depressed, maybe he is just reaching for answers on why she left so soon. Obviously, we'll never know.

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  6. Death has an unpleasant way of conjuring up a multitude of human emotions and memories. The speaker of "Elegy for Jane" is experiencing this very phenomenon when he reminisces about the admiration he holds for Jane. The speaker laments the loss of Jane through his use of free verse, imagery, and understatement.
    The poem is written in free verse, which accurately depicts the informality of his relationship with Jane. Although he feels touched by her loss, he is "neither father nor lover." His sense of grief over Jane's death seems unwarranted because he never really had an intense relationship with her. The free verse represents how death has no boundaries and neither does the relentless hand of grief. The speaker is able to see how Jane's death is a loss to the world although he himself is not the most deprived of her beautiful life.
    The imagery begins giving the reader an image of how Jane appeared outwardly to the world. But as the poem progresses, it takes on a deeper meaning. Within mere lines, the poem goes from her physical appearance to her inward capabilities, such as her light voice and thoughts. The loss of Jane is then intensified by the imagery that combines Jane to make her part of nature. This intensifies her loss because losing a piece of nature affects the world as a whole, not just a single person. The poem goes on to show how much of an intense presence and held many emotions.
    The speaker uses understatement by saying "if only I could nudge you from this sleep." This is a form of understatement because death is much more serious than a simple sleep. Death is permanent. This understatement shows how affected the speaker is by the death of Jane because it is easier to believe it is temporary and not permanent. People do not want to ever believe something beautiful or something they love is really gone forever. This line exemplifies that natural human desire because it is easier for the speaker to say she is asleep rather than dead and gone forever from the world.

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