Having It Out with Melancholy

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1992

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Poem Analysis

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Related Poems

“Lady Lazarus” by Sylvia Plath (1960)

Sylvia Plath’s “Lady Lazarus” remains one of the most influential poems about depression in American literature. Plath helped pioneer Confessional poetry, a literary movement during the 1950s and 1960s. Confessional poets rooted their work in their personal histories and psychological traumas, paving the way for poets like Kenyon to write about their own lives more candidly. The Confessionalist poets favored everyday language, shortening the gap between the poet and their poetic persona as much as possible. Like Kenyon, Plath used religious imagery—specifically Lazarus’s resurrection—to depict her struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts.

“Happiness” by Jane Kenyon (1997)

Kenyon looks at the flip side of her depression in her poem “Happiness.” Depression often manifests as numbness and apathy. As a result, feeling anything comes as a relief. The poem shows which presence leaves when depression stays, making it a mirror to “Having It Out with Depression.” Kenyon personifies happiness as the one “who comes back” (Line 1). Unlike with depression, she feels passionate relief too that she was “not abandoned” (Line 10).

“The Sick Wife” by Jane Kenyon (1996)

Kenyon continued to examine illnesses’ impact on relationships through her poem “The Sick Wife.” She wrote this poem about her cancer diagnosis. Published in tandem with “The Ship Pounding” by her husband Donald Hall in The New Yorker, the poems illustrate both the ill spouse’s and the caretaker’s perspectives. Kenyon amplifies the alienation from one’s body during illness she explored in “Having It Out with Melancholy” by having the poem told through an omniscient, third-person speaker.

Further Literary Resources

A Hundred White Daffodils: Essays, Interviews, The Akhmatova Translations, Newspaper Columns, and One Poem by Jane Kenyon (2000)

Jane Kenyon provides insight into her poetry in White Daffodils, published after her death in 1995. The book collects her prose work, interviews, and translations of the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova. A 1995 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers is exceptionally informative. Kenyon and Moyers discuss “Having It Out with Melancholy,” its origins in her experiences, and its healing effect for people impacted by mental illness. In that interview and many of the other entries, Kenyon demonstrates a desire to help and comfort others.

“An Inborn Vulnerability to Depression” by Joan Swirsky (1992) and “Doctors Urged to Look for Signs of Depression” by Warren E. Leary (1993)

“Having It Out with Melancholy” first appeared in POETRY Magazine in 1992 and reappeared the following year in Kenyon’s collection Constance. The poem reflects many of the then-current scientific and cultural attitudes and conceptions towards depression. Both these New York Times newspaper articles, published at the same time as “Having It Out with Melancholy,” offer a window into the increasing public dialogue and health outreach programs, research into depression as an “in-born” neuro-biological condition, and debates on the role of drugs in treatment happening during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Readers can trace how these conversations possibly shaped Kenyon’s understanding and portrayal of her depression. These articles also place into context readers’ positive reception of the poem during a time when people were only beginning to discuss mental health candidly.

“Jane Kenyon’s Constance” by Marie Howe (1994)

Poet-critic Marie Howe reviewed Kenyon’s last book published during her lifetime, Constance, for the literary magazine Agni. The review shows critics’ reception of the book shortly after its publication and her contemporary poets’ view of her entire body of work. Howe analyses Constance through the critical lens of reader response, biography, and formalism. Biographical readings use the life and times of the writer to interpret the text. Through a Formalist lens, critics focus on the text’s features, such as sentence structure and literary devices. She also lays out Kenyon’s stylistic strengths, reoccurring settings, metaphysical themes, and compassionate spirit.

Listen to Poem

Amanda Palmer reads “Having It Out with Melancholy” by Jane Kenyon

American singer-songwriter and performance artist Amanda Palmer recites “Having It Out with Melancholy” with piano accompaniment for the website The Marginalian in 2018.