Kenyon And Hall

"Everlasting Love" Essay, Research Paper

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"