It Might Have Been Otherwise: Analysis of “Otherwise” by Jane Kenyon
Jane Kenyon, the author of “Otherwise”, once said, “The poet's job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in such a beautiful way, that people cannot live without it.” Jane died a few years later after writing this poem, and it was published after her death. “Otherwise” is a meaningful poem that describes the tender truth about death in a definite but beautiful way; it also emphasizes the pleasant normalcy in life, and how everything will change.
This poem is basically about being thankful for having the simple cherished things in life, and how it could be different. It is in two short stanzas to emphasize how short life is. Jane talks about her “perfect” day throughout the poem by making everyday objects seem special. She uses the word “otherwise” repeatedly to exaggerate the fact that anything could have happened. In her first stanza, Jane seems to be describing the beginning her of life. In her second stanza, she described her last years of life.
First, Jane starts describing the beginning of her life in the first stanza of the poem. She used the word strong to give a positive connotation on the start of her life: “I got out of bed on two strong legs” (1-2). That line also shows how the speaker is blessed to have gotten out of bed with strong legs; instead, she could have gotten out of bed with no legs. Jane uses these lines to represent her pleasant early years: “I ate/ cereal, sweet/ milk, ripe, flawless/ peach” (5-7). The words “sweet” (5), “ripe” (6), and “flawless” (6) give a positive connotation to Jane’s early years, and a pleasant tone to the poem. Jane use...
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...is poem has a greater meaning to me since I had a personal connection. Someone close to me was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, and it affected me incredibly. The fact that someone I cared about could just die unexpectedly seems so surreal. Before, I did not even acknowledge the fact that anything could happen at any time in life; I took everything for granted, never savoring the simple pleasures in life that came so easily. After that incident, I started realizing that one day, I could be diagnosed with cancer. One day, I will not be able to wake up. Anything could happen on that one day, and it will happen. But for now, I have decided to be happy with what I have, to be glad to have some sense of normalcy in my life. It may not seem like enough to most people, but it is to me.
Works Cited
Kenyon, Jane. “Otherwise”. Poetry 180. 2000. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.
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