Theodore Roethke's Elegy For Jane

737 Words2 Pages

Theodore Roethke analyzes the complex attitude in an "Elegy for Jane." In the beginning the tone was reminiscent, heartfelt and warm bringing up cherishing moments between the speaker and Jane. However, the tone shifted as the piece developed going from a warm heartfelt poem to a dark sorrowing work. Roethke accomplishes this transition by using dominant literary devices throughout the work such as personification, similes, and imagery. These devices help us understand that the teacher loves and cares for Jane but is fearful of letting her go.
In "Elegy for Jane", Theodore Roethke uses personification by describing the way that the leaves, the wren, the branches and twigs, the shade and the mold all moved in some way or another. He gave them …show more content…

Roethke first addresses Jane by describing her, "neck curls, limp and damp as tendrils" to create this positive sense of who Jane is (line 1). In order for one to understand the comparison, we must know that a tendril is a branch of a growing plant. This simile allows to see that just as a plant, the teacher has seen Jane blossom and grow into the strong women she was before dying. The poem goes on to elaborate on the complexity of the tendrils stating how Jane no longer is, "waiting like a fern" out in the field. These two similes tie in well as tendrils are the beginning of life full of ambiance and excitement sprouting high becoming beautiful plants. While, ferns are dead sitting lonely in masses in a field waiting for the coming of a new day. We can see the speaker cares a great deal about Jane by describing such vivid imagery. The complexity of the relationship can further be analyzed showing what a blessing it was to have a passionate young women in the classroom and his life vibrant like a tendril, however, his life is gone and lonely like the ferns which gaze endlessly along the fields. The speaker is finding it unbearable to leave his memories of Jane behind for he truly loves and cares about

Show More
Related

  • Pain, Misery and Dissapointment in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    Pain, misery and disappointment are all a significant part of this world’s concepts of both life and love. A prime example of this is displayed in Charlotte Bronte’s novel, Jane Eyre, where the protagonist, Jane, suffers through a particularly difficult life; her love is constantly stripped from her the moment she is relishing it most. With Bronte’s introduction of Bertha Rochester, Jane’s never-ending cycle of disappointment and loss of love.

    Read More

  • Influences and Sources of Theodore Roethke's Elegy for Jane

    885 Words  | 2 Pages

    Without knowing something of Roethke's personal and professional life, one would think that a student named Jane was the sole inspiration for this moving elegy; however, in The Glass House, the poet's biographer, Allan Seager, reveals more than one possible source of inspiration for the poem. At the University of Washington, as at Roethke's other teaching posts, students liked him, and he frequently formed close relationships with his students--in fact, he married one of his former students; however, this was not the case with Jane Bannick. Seager reveals that "Ted had not known her [Jane] very well." She " was a student of Ted's for only one quarter. She was thrown from a horse and killed" (193). Yet another one of his students may also have had an influence on this elegy.

    Read More

  • Tikki Davis Personification

    591 Words  | 2 Pages

    An example of personification is, “Do you think a snake killer kills muskrats?” said Rikki-Tikki scornfully. (paragraph 34). This is an example of personification because animals can not talk and do not have human-like qualities. This personification proves my theme because when Rikki-Tikki does this it shows his bravery to talk to Nagaina in that kind of tone. Another piece of evidence is “ “Then Rikki-Tikki came up and cried: ‘Turn round, Nagaina; turn and fight!’” (para 88). This is an example of personification because it gives the animals human-like qualities and that Rikki Tikki is talking to Nagaina as if they were people. He shows that he is brave by wanting to start a conflict between Nagaina. By using personification, it gives the text more exaggeration to show the fighting between Rikki-Tikki and

    Read More

  • The Progressive Era and Jane Addams

    1203 Words  | 3 Pages

    The misfortunes Jane was given early in life didn’t alter her passionate thinking. As a child she ...

    Read More

  • Relationships In My Papa's Waltz And Daddy

    543 Words  | 2 Pages

    Roethke uses imagery and diction that makes the reader feel different emotions. The imagery of a father with whiskey on his breath and battered knuckles paints a picture of a scruffy, rugged man. On the other hand, the diction and imagery of “waltzing” in line 4 creates a soft and sweet image of a father and child dancing. The image of “My right ear scraped a buckle / You beat

    Read More

  • Love by William Maxwell

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    Overall, “Love” is about death and the students love for their teacher, even though it is not what it is played out to be. Maxwell demonstrates this through his tone, point of view, word choice, and sentence structure, in which coordinates with the overall theme of death. He uses his sentence structure to show the perspective of a fifth grade student. In addition, he also uses short descriptive sentences to show how a fifth grade student would tell a story. Maxwell also uses specific word choice that adds detail to his short sentences, in order to foreshadow Miss. Vera Brown’s Death. Each of these formal features helps shape his essay around the theme death, in which involves close attention in order to understand

    Read More

  • Isolation In William Faulkner's A Rose For Emily

    948 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Faulkner takes us back in time with his Gothic short story known as, “A Rose for Emily.” Almost every sentence gives a new piece of evidence to lead the reader to the overall theme of death, isolation, and trying to maintain traditions. The reader can conclude the theme through William Faulkner’s use of literary devices such as his choice of characters, the setting, the diction, the tone, and the plot line.

    Read More

  • Jane Eyre Integrity Quotes

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jane has been very much so mistreated in her childhood, but always finds a way to stand up for herself in what he believes in. Jane has many people in her childhood who do nothing but put her down and say she is more or less worthless. Jane still tells them how she sees herself for example,“I know something of Mr.Lloyd; I shall write to him; if his reply agrees with your statement, you shall be publicly cleared from every imputation: to me, Jane, you are clear now.” This quote is when jane is telling marie temple how what mrs. Reed said about her is a lie. This shows even though the school might at the moment think she is a liar jane is not afraid to tell them that she is not. When jane is in the school at first she becomes good friends with a girl by the name of helen burns, and when helen first gets sick they lose contact. When jane finds out that helen will not live much longer she goes to see helen,“I came to see you, Helen: I heard you were very ill, and I could not sleep till I had spoken to you.” (Bronte 105). To me this shows jane is very loyal to the people she finds dear to her. This to me shows what jane is really made of, because she did not have to go visit helen and she was actually told not to but she did anyway. Jane takes pride in her every move which brings me to my next

    Read More

  • Comparing “Snapping Beans” by Lisa Parker, “Nighttime Fires” by Regina Barreca, “Love Poem” by John Frederick Nims, and “Song” by John Donne

    799 Words  | 2 Pages

    The poem “Snapping Beans” by Lisa Parker is about a girl who visits her grandmother. In the poem, the girl and the grandmother talk about their usual things, like how she is going in school. The girl responds with how school is going good, but she knows that her grandmother would not approve of her social circle and what they do and talk about. The narrator does an excellent job of using imagery and personification to help the reader understand on an emotional level of how the student may be feeling while sitting on the porch with her grandmother. One example of personification in this poem would be: “About the nights I cried into the familiar / heartsick panels of the quilt she made me,” (26-27). This use of personification indicates that the panels of the quilt are heartsick because the girl cries each night into her quilt because she misses her grandmother dearly. In Regina Barreca’s poem “Nighttime Fires, the narrator explains her complex view of her father. Imagery plays a big role in this poem because it vividly illustrates the girl’s impression of her father’s...

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz By Theodore Roethke

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    Depending on the experience of the reader, they can either be disturbed by these words or be drawn in closer to the poem. Theodore Roethke loved his father. Not only did he love him, but he idolized him and unfortunately lost him at an early age. This poem is a reflective memorial waltz written in iambic trimeter to honor his father and

    Read More

  • Theme Of Death In Faulkner's The Wig And A Rose For Emily

    1484 Words  | 3 Pages

    The metaphors and symbols these authors use through their imagery help us better understand the emotional state of the characters. Though Udall’s story “The Wig” ends with better lives for the characters involved, Faulkner’s “A Rose For Emily,” is a more grim and macabre testament to the necessity of communication after loss. And, well, who knows what more strange habits the son might adopt in “The Wig,” had the father not embraced

    Read More

  • My Papa's Waltz

    1268 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the late nineteen forties, Theodore Roethke emerged with a poem that has been the source of much debate. "My Papa's Waltz," is an account of a relationship between son and father. Alas, many readers who are exposed to this piece fail to note the love present in the connection of the characters. In an attempt to illuminate the author's true intention several factors must be examined. After several examinations of Roethke's poem as well as learning of his childhood it is evident that this poem does not suggest an abusive environment, but is an appreciative account of the love and playfulness between the characters. Therefore, a successful interpretation of this poem will look beyond the four stanzas and study not only the history of the writing, but the life of the poet.

    Read More

  • Four Critics’ Perspective of Theodore Roethke's Elegy for Jane

    763 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...ini and Ross-Bryant appear almost polarized in their opinion of the nature of Roethke's feelings for Jane: Parini contends that Roethke mourns for us all; Ross-Bryant feels that Roethke's grief is intensely personal. Other than the nature of than Roethke's feelings for Jane, these four critics find little to disagree about in "Elegy for Jane."

    Read More

  • The Challenges Faced In Jane E

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel, Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte, has a plot that is filled with an extraordinary amount of problems. Or so it seems as you are reading it. However, it comes to your attention after you have finished it, that there is a common thread running throughout the book. There are many little difficulties that the main character, the indomitable Jane Eyre, must deal with, but once you reach the end of the book you begin to realize that all of Jane's problems are based around one thing. Jane searches throughout the book for love and acceptance, and is forced to endure many hardships before finding them. First, she must cope with the betrayal of the people who are supposed to be her family - her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and her children, Eliza, Georgiana, and John. Then there is the issue of Jane's time at Lowood School, and how Jane goes out on her own after her best friend leaves. She takes a position at Thornfield Hall as a tutor, and makes some new friendships and even a romance. Yet her newfound happiness is taken away from her and she once again must start over. Then finally, after enduring so much, during the course of the book, Jane finally finds a true family and love, in rather unexpected places.

    Read More

  • Dialogical and Formalistic Approach to Thomas Gray's Elegy (Eulogy) Written in a Country Churchyard

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    Elegy in a Country Courtyard, by Thomas Gray, can be looked at through two different methods. First the Dialogical Approach, which covers the ability of the language of the text to address someone without the consciousness that the exchange of language between the speaker and addressee occurs. (HCAL, 349) The second method is the Formalistic Approach, which allows the reader to look at a literary piece, and critique it according to its form, point of view, style, imagery, atmosphere, theme, and word choice. The formalistic views on form, allow us to look at the essential structure of the poem.

    Read More

More about Theodore Roethke's Elegy For Jane

Open Document