Summary Of Surprise By Jane Kenyon

Relationships can be like a pack of wolves. There is an alpha and an omega, always a type of power structure. Jane Kenyon explores about this in her poem with the different roles the male and female take within in their relationship. She reveals how a power shift come about and the way in which each person in the relationship acts to accommodate it. “Surprise” In her poem “Surprise”, Jane Kenyon uses yonic and phallic symbols, regression, and the double to reveal the power dynamics within the relationship.
Kenyon uses yonic and phallic symbols to describe how something is changing in the relationship. Kenyon uses a female symbol when she writes, “Tender ferns unfurl/ in the ditches” (Kenyon 6-4) The ditch represents a yonic symbol. The yonic …show more content…
She starts out the poem by writing, “He suggests pancakes at local diner, / followed by a walk in search of mayflowers” (Kenyon 1-2). He is planning her whole day out which is something a parent does for a child. H is telling her ahead of time exactly what they are going to do and not giving her a choice. He is regressing her back to a younger state where she would need this type of direction in her life. He is becoming the dominant figure by treating her as if she is a child. This could be his way of taking and maintaining the power in the relationship. The male in the relationship exerts his power again when he brings her back to the house full of people: “While friends convene at the house . . . the gathering itself is not what astounds her” (Kenyon 3, 9-10). He not only plans her whole day out, but invites these people over to their house and just expects her to be okay with it. Again, she is experiencing regression back to a time where she only had to do what she was told. Furthermore, when Kenyon writes that the woman is not surprised by this act, she could mean that the man does this enough where she is used to just listening to him and going along with what he says. She shows that he is using regression to become, or maintain his role as the dominant figure in the relationship. The male is using regression towards the woman to be the powerful one in the …show more content…
Kenyon starts off by describing the man as he was seen by the woman: “Followed by a walk in search of mayflowers” (Kenyon 2). He wants to go on a walk suggesting that he is kind and sweet. The man is trying to spend time with the woman, and by doing something that she enjoys which is looking at flowers. Additionally, because he is trying to do something that she wants to do it advocates for the fact that he just wants to see her happy. On the contrary, later in the poem, Kenyon reveals his double: “But the casual/ accomplishment in which he lied” (Kenyon 10-11). This new lying part of him has been revealed to the woman and it is not a good side. The exposing of the double leads her to questioning if he has lied about other things, and what the is not telling her. It can also lead to wondering if there are not hideous traits that have yet to be revealed. Moreover, because he could lie to her, and manipulate her earlier to believe her was a sweet innocent guy, he takes the power in the couple and becomes the dominating one. He is not trying to be sweet as she originally thought, but trying to keep control over her. The power dynamics, and the dominating male character are revealed with the exposure of the male’s