When one thinks about poetry the first thing you may think about is the complexity of poetry. Typically I think people are afraid of literary works such as poetry and dismiss poetry because they find It to be too complicated. Many people don’t Like to read things that actually require them to think about the text and deem them complicated because they don’t want to take the time to see what the author is trying to say. However, if they were to take their time and dissect the poem they would find that poetry isn’t as complicated as it seems.
They may also see the beauty in poetry and hat no matter who you are there is a poem somewhere you can relate to. Poetry Is not straightforward and that Is one of the things I personally love about It because of its depth, which I find beautiful. Even the most haunting poems I feel are still beautiful because of the way they are written especially with the use of imagery, metaphors, and similes. So to me poetry is an art form Just as a paintings, songs, or films are art forms. Its a way to express feelings and emotions that have been evoked by some moment in ones life.
Just as a song or film, poetry is complex and could mean something different to each person that reads It. Typically when you first read a poem you don’t know exactly what the author Is saying and often your first response is not actually the correct one. This was the case for me when reading “Elegy for Jane” by Theodore Rotted. When I first read the poem I thought Rotted was talking about his student that had passed away, Jane, and that he in fact was in love with this student based off the line: “Over this damp grave I speak the words of my love” (20).
After furthering reading this poem however I as troubled with this analysis because I would Like to think you would not describe someone you are in love with as having hair that Is “limp and damp as tendrils” (1) or a “sidelong pickerel smile” (2). I also was puzzled by all the use of nature when using imagery and thought it was notable and that Rotted had done this for a reason. So after further analysis I believe that Rotted is not literally talking about Jane but nature and the life cycle.
I feel for the author Jane represents the beauty and complexity of life and that when her death occurred It made the author hint about mortality and how she was young and her death was premature thus it defied the authors idea that death occurs after aging. This analysis is a perfect example of the complexity of poetry and how it could mean different things to different people. One of my favorite things about poetry Is the authors ability to use descriptive language to paint a picture In your head.
Once again using Reroutes “Elegy for Jane” two of my favorite lines in the poem are “Her song trembling the twigs and small branches” (6) and “The shade sang with her” (7). The reason I love these lines is cause it really paints a picture of how Jane was as a student while also tying her to the natural world. Jane was delightful and had an impact on those around her and even the negative people Joined It with her delight.
The author could have easily come right out and said Jane was a delight and made others around her feel the wasn’t always so happy and this is evident when Rotted says, “Oh, when she was sad, she case herself down into such a pure depth” (10). I feel this is a way of saying that when Jane was sad her sadness consumed her and she was lost within it. Those are Just a few of the descriptive language Rotted used throughout his writing in order to bring the story to life. I love that poetry is an outlet for emotions.
Knowing that this isn’t Just a fiction story and that it is a result of a real event in someone life makes “An Elegy for Jane” more interesting to me. For many people saying that the author was not in love with Jane and that she was in fact only Reroute’s student questions the origin of the poem. For me however I think it makes complete sense because of personal experience. My view is that you don’t have to know a person to be affected in some way even if the impact is minimal. This happens in my opinion very often.
If someone died and the family could not afford the funeral donations may be made in order to help the family. Many detonators may not know the victim or victim’s family directly but are instead affected by the victim’s death. I believe in a sense that is what is happening in this poem. I think when Jane died it evoked some emotion in Rotted and made him question the cycle of life and mortality. This was evident to me when he author stated, “l, with no rights in this matter” (21).
The author is saying he has no right to be moved by Cane’s untimely death because he is only her teacher and he didn’t know her well enough to have that right. However, he was affected by her death and thus the poem was written. All in all, I think Theodore Reroute’s “An Elegy for Jane” Is a great representation of the idea that poetry is an art form and is Just as complex, beautiful, and expressive as any song or piece of artwork. This type of writing to me is an art in and of itself.
