SOURCE: Davis, Todd F. and Kenneth Womack. “Settling into the Light: The Ethics of Grace in the Poetry of Jane Kenyon.” In Bright Unequivocal Eye: Poems, Papers, and Remembrances from the First Jane Kenyon Conference, edited by Bert G. Hornback, pp. 87-97. New York: Peter Lang, 2000.

In the following essay, Davis and Womack center on the often-repeated theme of mortality in Kenyon's poems. The critics contend that while Kenyon does face mortality with trepidation, her poems on the subject are gracefully tempered with gratitude for life—however fleeting—and peaceful contemplation of the life to come.

Into light all things must fall, glad at last to have fallen. 

—Jane Kenyon, “Things”

Ordinary pleasures, contentment recollected, blow like snow into the abandoned garden, overcoming the daisies. 

—Donald Hall, “Weeds and Peonies”

I sense unavoidable darkness coming near, but come and see the Paradise where together, blissful and innocent, we...