Bell's+For+John+Whiteside's+Daughter

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In "Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter" by John Crowe Ransom, there are many examples of modernism in the poem. One of the main things that Ransom uses is the Modernism affect of mind. Ransom through out his life was know for his mental usage in poems and this poem exemplifies his most popular form of that mentality. This work by Ransom is almost always compared to his work "The Dead Boy", another poem that happens to be about a child’s death.

A major theme in Modernism writing had to deal with the different aspects of mind and thought. This poem makes the reader think about someone that they may know that acts the same way that the girl in the poem acts and they think it is annoying too. This poem also jumps into the logic and ideas of the person who is talking about the young girl. There are two lines in the poem that exemplify how people are talking the death of this young girl, one is in the first stanza and one in the last, they are as follows: “…It is no wonder her brown study Astonishes us all…” and “…To say we are vexed at her brown study” (Ransom). Both of these incidences are telling the reader that they are now upset about the sudden and too soon death of this young girl. Sharon Talley in her analysis of this poem states that Ransom, “reverberates with a number of striking contrasts that capture the paradoxical nature of human existence: life-death, past-present, memory-reality, astonishment-vexation, starkness-artifice”.

“Noted for their metaphysical wit and occasional archaisms, Ransom's poems are most frequently short lyrics in which he explores the ironies of human existence as they are manifested in the domestic scenes of daily life” ( Quinlan). At young ages in Ransom’s career as a writer he was put into high positions or English and Literature which helped him to become the exceptional writer he is still known as today. Ransom's original interest was more in philosophy than in literature though. He was always one to tell his thoughts in different ways or views that made people wonder what his mind was working on next (Quinlan). In "Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter", Ransom uses the death of a child to explore metaphysical questions about human life (Talley). Even though this poem may seem to be a simple one about the death of a girl well known among the community, it reflects mainly the conflicts in the modernism view of consciousness.

"Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter" is a poem that is related to another poem by Ransom a lot, "The Dead Boy". Each poem depicts a dead child in a coffin as family and friends struggle to comprehend not only the individual loss of the child but also the resulting loss of innocence for themselves (Talley). There is a Modernism trait of ‘hero’ that is often deployed in Modernism writings, and these poems use the innocence of those heroes in the sense of a child. In "The Dead Boy" the family gathers about the corpse of a dead child, "the little man quite dead" (Nelson). This poem can also be compared to the poem "Incident" by Countee Cullen. Both of these poems use different mental feelings in them and they allow the reader to think about or feel what the author is going through. In "Incident", the reader is sympathizing with the young boy that is being called names. In "Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter" the reader is imagining themselves as someone who would have known the young girl whose life so suddenly ending.

John Crowe Ransom used his love for philosophy and his amazing writings abilities to his advantage when he wrote the poem "Bells for John Whiteside’s Daughter". He was able to use the times when he was a young student practicing literature in his early life and the positions he was put in regarding literature to better help his understanding of the philosophy of different people and himself.

__ Work Cited __ Nelson, Cary. "Comparing "Bells for John Whiteside's Daughter" and "Dead Boy"" //Welcome to English « Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois//. Web. 02 May 2010. []. Talley, Sharon. "'Bells for John Whiteside's Daughter'." In Kimmelman, Burt, and Temple Cone, eds. // The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry //, vol. 2. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. // Bloom's Literary Reference Online //. Facts On File, Inc. [] CAP032&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 30, 2010).

Ransom, John C. "Bells For John Whiteside's Daughter by John Crowe Ransom." // PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine //. Web. 25 Apr.

Quinlan, Kieran. "John Crowe Ransom's Life and Career." //Welcome to English « Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois//. American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Web. 03 May 2010. .

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