Elegy Assignment

Responding to "The Leap" by James Dickey.

In this poem I feel that the author is speaking, and as there is no mention of "you" in the poem, it seems to me that this must be a recollection or personal reflection and is directed inward. His tone seems to be one of disbelief and sadness. I find it interesting that he references the thin, brittle chain of paper multiple times, and also uses "the paper" as the way in which he finds out about her death. Its unclear in the poem whether Jane has truly died or not, and so to me it would seem that by using "the paper" as the medium by which he hears of her death makes it potentially only a daydream or whimsy.

I also feel that the journey that the poem takes potentially undermines the possible reality of her death. He starts of remembering her, but not in the ways in which she was commonly known. He did not recollect her as running with the other girls, he remembered her in this one odd instance of a formal dance. As he reaches the latter part of the poem where he "remembers" hearing of her death, he states that it is odd. Starting and ending the poem in dissociative recollections of her seems to me to call into question whether there is any truth to the poem.

I am confused by the final turn in the poem, the last stanza, and specifically the line "Hold on to that ring I made for you, Jane - My feet are nailed to the ground By dust I swallowed thirty years ago - While I examine my hands." If you eliminate the part between the two dashes, the line becomes "Hold on To that ring I made for you, Jane - While I examine my hands." This seems to make no sense to me, and leaves the exit of the poem somewhat unresolved and unclear to me.

Upon rereading the poem, I did notice that he foreshadowed her death in the second stanza, describing her jump as a "Grave Leap."


Poem in response:

I finished my milk
Placed the glass carefully on the wood
Tall enough, even at that age
To reach the top of the piano.

It was warm that day, midsummer.
Beads of condensation rolled
Slowly, strolling toward
The beautiful honey finish

Long out of tune from hours
Spent hammering tuneless
Tunes, carefully crafted
By my fat, five-year-old fingers
I had no respect -
So turned away.

Your angry shout echoed
In the Steinway's strings,
Slightly humming from fury
at the damage I had caused.

It was the only time
You ever spoke to me in anger,
Called me by my given name
Each syllable a hammer
Hitting heavy on the bass.

The only time your words
Impacted part of me, and
Still I always wonder
If I meant as much to you
As a water ring
On honey maple