Otherwise

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1996

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Form & Meter

“Otherwise” is a twenty-six line poem in two stanzas of free verse. The line lengths vary and do not employ any kind of rhyme. There is a sense of form however, with the repeated refrain of “it might have been / otherwise” (Lines 3-4) occurring after each description of a daily event. This repetition causes the daily events themselves to be highlighted with each use of the refrain. The reader pays greater attention to these images of resting, eating, and walking knowing that it could be “otherwise” (Lines 4, 8, 15, 19, 26).

The poem’s structural unity relies on its division into two stanzas, with the break occurring after Line 12. The first stanza concentrates on action and makes the speaker seem physically strong and determined. The speaker rises out of bed, eats breakfast, walks the dog “uphill” (Line 10), and works. The speaker’s recurring fear that this routine will change dampens the energetic tone of the first stanza. In contrast, the second stanza occurs in the afternoon, and here the speaker seems to have lost energy. They “lay down” (Line 13) at “noon” (Line 13), which marks a contrast to their energy in the beginning of the poem. The quick shift to “dinner” (Line 16) suggests dwindling daytime, enhanced by the notation of the “candlesticks” (Line 18) which suggests the dimness of candlelight. This image offers readers a sense of the winding down of a day confirmed by the speaker going to bed to sleep. This closure heightens Kenyon’s ideas of mortality, giving the poem a before in the first stanza, and an after in the second.

Use of Refrain

The use of a refrain, or a repeated phrase, enhances a poem’s meaning. The phrase “it might have been otherwise” (Lines 3-4) punctuates the poem several times, appearing after most of the pleasant descriptions of daily life. The refrain, used in Lines 3-4, 7-8, 14-15, 18-19, functions as an encroaching thought the speaker cannot control and an undercurrent that colors everything the speaker does. Even as the speaker plans “another day / just like this day” (Lines 23-24), the threat becomes finalized as an inevitability: “But one day, I know, / it will be otherwise” (Line 25-26). The simple shift from “might” (lines 3, 7, 14, 18) to “know” (Line 25) offers an acceptance of mortality. Because death will inevitably come, something commonplace like the “peach” (Line 7) becomes “flawless” (Line 6), making the present world is rich and vibrant, and even more so given its fleeting quality.

Use of Adjectives

One of the techniques that poets use to enhance their work is rich descriptions of the world around them. Imagery—or phrases that employ the senses—can enliven the poem for the reader and allow them to vividly see the world described. In “Otherwise,” Kenyon uses spare, but precise, description to help show the speaker’s reverence for the everyday. This is particularly true in her use of deliberate adjectives in the first stanza. The speaker gets up on “strong legs” (Line 2), the adjective enhancing an image of the speaker’s strength in the moment. They enjoy “sweet / milk” (Lines 5-6) and a “ripe, flawless / peach” (Lines 6-7). The pleasure and perfection of breakfast is enhanced by the line breaks on the adjectives “sweet” (Line 5) and “flawless” (Line 6). The dog is walked to a “wood” but the speaker is paying particular attention to their surroundings, adding the adjective “birch” to describe the “wood” (Line 10), thus conjuring the idea of many distinctive black and white trees. This attention to surroundings is also show in the end of the poem when the speaker eats at “a table with silver / candlesticks” (Lines 17-18), the shiny “silver” enhancing the specialness of even an occasion like “dinner” (Line 16). The room the speaker goes to sleep in is one “with paintings on the walls” (Lines 21-22), which suggests an appreciation of art and a sense of a completed room. Although the adjectives are minor, they dramatically enhance the things they describe in terms of beauty. This helps to elevate the inevitability of loss the speaker is trying to face, the contrast of the moment when it will be “otherwise” (refrain).