Poem Analysis: Otherwise By Jane Kenyon

The poem that I will be interpreting is called ‘Otherwise’ by Jane Kenyon. This poem may be short, but it has a lot of underlying meaning and a world of thought hidden beneath the printed words on the page. This poem by Jane Kenyon is written about the idea of the possibility that things could have been different in not only her life, but others lives as well. The title of the poem itself foreshadows to this idea; it also makes the audience think and reflect upon their own lives in order to appreciate the little and big things they have now because the circumstances could always be different. Jane Kenyon begins the poem with the scene of her getting out of bed on two strong legs. This is already important because the author was diagnosed with …show more content…
She is so particular about the words that she uses in this poem. She doesn 't use imagery to describe what they ate or what her mate looks like, instead she used it to describe the scene at the table. She says that there was a table with silver candlesticks. The silver candlesticks could have been mentioned by her to show privilege. She described this scene so that we can see what she is seeing. There’s so much thought that goes into the line alone. We can see that she is thankful for this opportunity to have another meal with this significant other. It can also be noted that she is even thankful even if they’re not at a five star restaurant or surrounded by others. Jane Kenyon again keeps it simple and gets her idea across without stating too much detail. She leaves the readers to interpret her underlying thoughts. Once again she repeats the line “it might have been …show more content…
These different things include the ideas that her life could be different due to change, she could have been born into a different life, she has a lot of things that others may not have, she 's thankful for the smaller things in life, and the idea that death could have claimed her sooner and she wouldn 't have had this simple, yet wonderful day. There are many themes that she goes for in this short poem. At the end of it all, she 's basically asking the readers how we would respond if we knew our world would be flipped upside down this time tomorrow and how we deal with the inevitable, uncontrollable things in life. Often times we’re not as thankful as we should be for the things we have. Could that be because they’re not enough or because there are too many small things in this world to really be thankful for them