Poem reminded me of Wuthering heights. The speaker laments the death of a loved one as he stands over her grave whispering "I love you"
1970 Poem: “Elegy for Jane” (Theodore Roethke)
Prompt: Write an essay in which you describe the speaker's attitude toward his former student, Jane.
Elegy for Jane
(My student, thrown by a horse)
(My student, thrown by a horse)
I remember the neckcurls, limp and damp as tendrils;
And her quick look, a sidelong pickerel smile;
And how, once startled into talk, the light syllables leaped for her,
And she balanced in the delight of her thought,
A wren, happy, tail into the wind,
Her song trembling the twigs and small branches.
The shade sang with her;
The leaves, their whispers turned to kissing,
And the mould sang in the bleached valleys under the rose.
Oh, when she was sad, she cast herself down into such a pure depth,
Even a father could not find her:
Scraping her cheek against straw,
Stirring the clearest water.
My sparrow, you are not here,
Waiting like a fern, making a spiney shadow.
The sides of wet stones cannot console me,
Nor the moss, wound with the last light.
If only I could nudge you from this sleep,
My maimed darling, my skittery pigeon.
Over this damp grave I speak the words of my love:
I, with no rights in this matter,
Neither father nor lover.
Pre-writeAnd her quick look, a sidelong pickerel smile;
And how, once startled into talk, the light syllables leaped for her,
And she balanced in the delight of her thought,
A wren, happy, tail into the wind,
Her song trembling the twigs and small branches.
The shade sang with her;
The leaves, their whispers turned to kissing,
And the mould sang in the bleached valleys under the rose.
Oh, when she was sad, she cast herself down into such a pure depth,
Even a father could not find her:
Scraping her cheek against straw,
Stirring the clearest water.
My sparrow, you are not here,
Waiting like a fern, making a spiney shadow.
The sides of wet stones cannot console me,
Nor the moss, wound with the last light.
If only I could nudge you from this sleep,
My maimed darling, my skittery pigeon.
Over this damp grave I speak the words of my love:
I, with no rights in this matter,
Neither father nor lover.
Devices: anaphora (of "and"), repetition of "my", and tone of melancholy
Essay Response:
To work so closely with someone, one can't help but develop a bond that transcends the boundary between teacher and loved one. In Theodore Roethke's "Elegy to Jane" depicts a speaker who laments the death of a student and the tone indicates that her absence has caused him great grief. With the repetition of "my", the speaker conveys that that he deeply cares about her. Finally, anaphora is used in the first stanza to indicate a list of her characteristics as he personifies branches and objects and compares them to her natural beauty.
The tone can be seen throughout the poem as the speaker conveys melancholy as he laments her absence. He wishes deeply to bring her back, to see her one last time and feel her presence but he can't and she can't hear as he talks over her grave. He laments not being able to tell her his feelings. He misses her and this elegy is meant to convey his feelings of sorrow.
The repetition of "my" shows the audience that the speaker cares deeply about Jane. This can be seen with the phrase "my love" that he wishes to tell her but he wasn't her lover or her father, but I'm sure he was a bit of both as a teacher figure in her life. "My" is also a form of ownership as he clings to her in a possessive manner and clings to her memory.
Finally, the speaker uses anaphora of "and" to describe her characteristics and compare them to nature. The speaker gives describes her beauty in detail as he is in awe of her. He uses personification of things in nature, such as branches, to juxtaposition her natural beauty with nature. This conveys that Jane's beauty is as natural and graceful and nature yet still in a different category entirely. He finds her to be his world, her beauty engulfed his spirit beguiled.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and Roethke found Jane to be more than just beautiful. Her death was unexpected he never got the chance to tell her his feelings. Because of that, this poem is filled with lament and the tone is gloomy and filled with melancholy as he mourns her unexpected passing. Her beauty beguiled him and this can be seen with the use of personification and anaphora. The repetition of my conveys his possessive and yet sincere feelings for her.
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