“Comin Thro’ the Rye” by Robert Burns was a very sexual poem that I would like to talk about stanza by stanza. In the first stanza, Robert Burns introduces a character named Jenny, and reveals very little information about her. The only two things the reader gets to know about Jenny is that she is “wet” and “poor.” Our class arrived at a general consensus that “wet,” meant that Jenny engaged in a lot of sex. “Poor” will be explained in the latter part of this essay. The second stanza visually depicts Jenny, walking through a field of rye with just her undergarments on. Once again she is referred to as “poor.”
In stanzas two and three the reader gets to learn about Robert Burns’ main argument that the world shouldn’t interfere with the personal relationships of individuals. This opinion is revealed from the lines, “If a body kiss a body, need a body cry?” and, “If a body kiss a body, need the world now?” As you can see Burns strongly believes in privacy, especially in sexual relationships.
In the last stanza, Burns repeats the first stanza, which refers to Jenny as “wet” and “poor” once again. The word “poor” caused a lot of trouble for me because it made me think of a lot of different scenarios about Jenny that could possibly correspond with the meaning of the poem. At first, I thought Jenny could’ve been a prostitute who had to have sex, regardless of her will. And, because of her degrading work, I though she had received a lot of oppression from society, causing Burns to describing her with the word, “poor.” However, I realized that this scenario couldn’t be supported by the poem. After interpreting Burns’ main argument that relationships shouldn’t be interfered with by the public, I came to the conclusion that Jenny is a “poor” body because she can’t openly share relationships with other men, without being looked down upon by the rest of society.
Jeffrey-
답글삭제This was a very thoughtful and well-written piece. I share similar views on many of the verses you discussed in the above assignment. For instance, I agree that Robert Burns' poem was written about a secret, perhaps forbidden sexual encounter. However, while I agree that Burns brings up the subject of sexual intimacy and privacy, I'm not sure that he puts forth a strong opinion for either side. Rather, I think he is merely posing the question of whether a sexual act should be known or not, and leaving the actual answer for interpretation. On the whole, I enjoyed reading your feedback on this poem. Your idea about Robert Burns’ use of the word “poor” is original and creative. Good work!
Henry