Four Critics’ Perspective of Theodore Roethkes Elegy for Jane Essay

Four Critics Perspective of Theodore Roethkes Elegy for JaneMore than forty years after her untimely shoemakers last, Jane Bannick breathes again--or so it seems while reading about her. Janes unfortunate dying in an equestrian accident prompted one of her professors, the poet Theodore Roethke, to write a moving poem, Elegy for Jane, recalling his young student and his feelings of grief at her loss. Opinions appeared close as shortly as Roethkes tribute to Jane, and passages about the poem continue to appear in articles and books. Recent writings by Parini, Ross-Bryant, Kalaidjian, and Stiffler disclose current assessments. According to Parini, Janes death is not the subject of the poem rather, her death presents an occasion for calling up a certain emotional state in which Roethkes feelings of grief and pity transcend the occasion. quest the standard of elegiac celebration of the vegetation god Adonis reaching back to Bions Lament for Adonis and Moschuss Lament for Bion, Ro ethke associates the deceased with elemental nerves of nature--the plant tendrils, the pickerel, the wren--to defuse the pathos of her death. A Romantic poet, Roethke views death as a stage the plants point to rebirth (138-39). The subject of Roethkes most famous poem (45) becomes the response to Janes death and his ambivalent emotions at her graveside. Without the associations of earlier elegies, the emotion would surpass the occasion. Roethke mourns not only Jane, whom he knew only slightly, but also the deaths of us all (138-39). Jane presents one aspect of woman in The Waking collection (1953) Ross-Bryant views Jane as a young girl who is dead. The poem expresses concern with the coming of death. This poignant elegy is presen... ...ini and Ross-Bryant appear almost polarized in their opinion of the nature of Roethkes feelings for Jane Parini contends that Roethke mourns for us all Ross-Bryant feels that Roethkes grief is intensely personal. Other than the nature of than Roethkes feelings for Jane, these four critics find little to disagree about in Elegy for Jane. Works CitedKalaidjian, Walter B. Understanding Theodore Roethke. Columbia U of South Carolina P, 1987. Parini, Jay. Theodore Roethke An American Romantic. Amherst U of Massachusetts P, 1979. Roethke, Theodore. The Collected Poems of Theodore Roethke. New York Anchor-Doubleday, 1975. Ross-Bryant, Lynn. Theodore Roethke Poetry of the Earth . . . Poet of the Spirit. Port Washington, N.Y. Kennikat, 1981. Stiffler, Randall. Theodore Roethke The Poet and His Critics. lucre ALA, 1986.