Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop
Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop - context Summary
Published in 1933
Published in Yeats's 1933 collection The Winding Stair and Other Poems, this dramatic monologue stages a clash between a Bishop and Crazy Jane over holiness and bodily love. The poem contrasts clerical asceticism with Jane's earthy defense of desire, arguing that spiritual and physical realities are inseparable. It reflects Yeats's ongoing interest in love, spirituality, and the human condition within a late-career sequence of reflective, metaphysical poems.
Read Complete AnalysesI met the Bishop on the road And much said he and I. 'Those breasts are flat and fallen now, Those veins must soon be dry; Live in a heavenly mansion, Not in some foul sty.' 'Fair and foul are near of kin, And fair needs foul,' I cried. 'My friends are gone, but that's a truth Nor grave nor bed denied, Learned in bodily lowliness And in the heart's pride. 'A woman can be proud and stiff When on love intent; But Love has pitched his mansion in The place of excrement; For nothing can be sole or whole That has not been rent.'
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