Kenyon And Hall Everlasting Love
The poems that are depicted in the book by Hall and the book by Kenyon
are
different in their topics and expression of their ideas. Though these
poets seem
to be different in their work; they both seem to share a common
thread. That
thread is the love that Hall and Kenyon have for each other.
This is shown in
the poem "Alone for a Week" by Jane Kenyon and an untitled
poem from
pg. 11 of Donald Hall "Without". Though Kenyon's poem deals with
more
of a feeling of loneliness and yearning for the return that will come.
Hall's
poem is about remembrance of the one he loved and yearnings for
something that
he knows will not return but has to be dealt with. If we look
at the poem
"Alone for a Week" by Jane Kenyon we see the details that show
her
love for Hall. We see her alone at home while Hall is out of town. So she
must
do things to keep her self busy while he is gone to take her mind of the
fact
that he is gone. By Kenyon's word choice we get the feeling that the
short time
that he is gone seem s much longer to her then it really is. She
uses phrases to
express this, "...your pillow plump, cool..." These give
the
impression that the pillow has not been used in a long time, as if it may
never
be warmed again. But throughout the poem she is hopeful of his return
soon.
Smolen 2 The untitled poem by Hall conversely is not hopeful of the
return of
his wife; the reality of it has already hit him and passed. Now all
he has to
live with is small, but memorable moments that may have seemed
trivial to them
at the moment. These moments now are all he has to remember
his wife by. The
sense of love that is found in the Kenyon poem is still
there though. The way
that he lovingly describes her. Just his choice of
words seem to convey the love
that he had and still does of his love. "When
she was forty she came into
her beauty..." this passage reflects his love
that grew more and more as
the older they got. This poem has a much darker
and sadder feel to it then the
slightly carefree feeling that the Kenyon poem
has. Though it feels darker than
the Kenyon poem it still has a loving feel
to it, not just sadness and regret.
The poems in Jane Kenyon's
"OTHERWISE" seem to be more about her
experiences. Full of scenes of her
life, but mostly of her time with Hall and
also mostly of time spent in New
Hampshire. On the other hand the pictures that
Hall paints for us in his
book "WITHOUT", is one after the death of
his wife. This causes most of the
poems to be of the sadness and loss that Hall
feels after losing the woman of
his life. Though these poems seem to be about
two different themes, they both
show the way that these two people both had
immense feelings for each other.
To them it did not matter what happened they
would get through it no matter
what, "I am Telly Savalas"