Lord Byron perfectly stated " There is pleasure in the pathless woods,/ there is rapture in the lonely shore,/ there is society where none intrudes,/ by the deep sea, and music in its roar;/ I love not Man the less, but Nature more"(BrainyQuotes) in one of his romantic poems. His artistic expression of happiness is exactly the emotion Sarah Orne Jewett shows in "The White Heron", about a courageous young girl choosing to love nature by turning down a man's love in an era where women were not particularly independent. Readers learn through the work that love is not always traditional, similar to the author's personal romantic experience. Jewett uses Sylvia to represent her growth and experiences, because as "A sickly child, Jewett was often
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At one point, she thinks " having lost her first fear of the friendly lad, who proved to be most kind and sympathetic. He told her many things about the birds and what they knew and where they lived and what they did with themselves... Sylvia still watched the young man with loving admiration. She had never met anyone so charming and delightful..."(Jewett). Sylvia is romantically attracted to the stranger, whose youthful company and shared interest in birds she appreciates, having gotten over her premonition and initial fear of the boy. "...she soon becomes comfortable, indeed infatuated, with the 'charming' and 'handsome stranger'"(Church) states the critic. Sylvia is mystified by the boy, and welcomes the idea of perhaps choosing to love him. This affection develops the first sparks of what will become her inner conflict while also being the first truly romantic emotions she …show more content…
The narrator says "the woman's heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love"(Jewett). Discovering her feelings for the first time is a coming of age of sorts. She is trying to organize her thoughts and realize what they mean, but at the same time love is still a far away concept to her. Sylvia doesn't truly understand love and its boundaries and rules. Church, the analyst of the story states, "a psychological romance 'A White Heron' dramatizes a girl's difficult internal maturation in nineteenth-century America"(Church). Sylvia’s romance is all an internal battle because she struggles with understanding everything immediately. It is her internal conflict that adds to the romantic tone Jewett writes
At one point, she thinks " having lost her first fear of the friendly lad, who proved to be most kind and sympathetic. He told her many things about the birds and what they knew and where they lived and what they did with themselves... Sylvia still watched the young man with loving admiration. She had never met anyone so charming and delightful..."(Jewett). Sylvia is romantically attracted to the stranger, whose youthful company and shared interest in birds she appreciates, having gotten over her premonition and initial fear of the boy. "...she soon becomes comfortable, indeed infatuated, with the 'charming' and 'handsome stranger'"(Church) states the critic. Sylvia is mystified by the boy, and welcomes the idea of perhaps choosing to love him. This affection develops the first sparks of what will become her inner conflict while also being the first truly romantic emotions she …show more content…
The narrator says "the woman's heart, asleep in the child, was vaguely thrilled by a dream of love"(Jewett). Discovering her feelings for the first time is a coming of age of sorts. She is trying to organize her thoughts and realize what they mean, but at the same time love is still a far away concept to her. Sylvia doesn't truly understand love and its boundaries and rules. Church, the analyst of the story states, "a psychological romance 'A White Heron' dramatizes a girl's difficult internal maturation in nineteenth-century America"(Church). Sylvia’s romance is all an internal battle because she struggles with understanding everything immediately. It is her internal conflict that adds to the romantic tone Jewett writes