In Memory of Jane Fraser
When snow like sheep lay in the fold A
And winds went begging at each door, B
And the far hills were blue with cold, A
And a cold shroud lay on the moor, B
She kept the siege. And every day C
We watched her brooding over death D
Like a strong bird above its prey. C
The room filled with the kettle’s breath. D
Damp curtains glued against the pane E
Sealed time away. Her body froze F
As if to freeze us all, and chain E
Creation to a stunned repose. F
She died before the world could stir. G
In March the ice unloosed the brook H
And water ruffled the sun’s hair. I
Dead cones upon the alder shook. H
Hill, Geoffrey. "In Memory of Jane Fraser." Poetry Foundation. Web. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/178121>.
The main theme of this poem is about death, and how the character in the poem handles it and has control over her situation. In the beginning it sets the scene of a desolate place, sad and remote, with a "cold shroud" beginning the allusion to death. The next section talks of the characters struggle, talking of her being in control of her life in a way where she can decide when she will go. Moving on to the death, there is a stagnation when referring to the end of her life. Where she is overwhelmed by the "cold" and with her death, brings about the end of the "winter."
The rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GHIH
This rhyme scheme is used to group together like ideas within the poem and the stanzas. The first paragraph talks about the outdoors; the second stanza speaks of someone within a home in winter; the third section moves to a more abstract topic of how she is stuck in the symbolical house, and the final reflects on the her deaths meaning. This rhyme scheme leads to very segmented areas of the timeline the poem follows, which gives a greater effect than only stanzas could provide. For instance when you look at the difference between first and second, or third and fourth, you can see that the story takes a broader scope and the focus shifts dramatically,
So you sort of talked about different parts of the poem meaning different things; do you think this could be an attempt at an elegy? I think it's cool how you noticed that the rhyme scheme got looser as the poem went on, correlating with the broadening topic of each stanza.
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