Language #1: The Leap by James Dickey can be found on page 957 of the Norton.
The Leap is an example of the use of symbolism in a poem. Dickey utilizes two objects or actions within the poem as a representation of something more significant.The first, and probably most recognizable, is the leap that Jane MacNaughton takes. To the reader, the leap is simply a moment befoer the dance class. When the speaker first mentions the leap, it seems insignificant. However, as the poem goes on we realize that this single moment represents a larger meaning for the speaker. He is mesmerized by the image of her floating through the air. The speaker recalls that Jane "reached me now as well, hanging in my mind" as she leapt to touch the "paper-ring decorations" in the room. In his memory of her, Jane is this carefree, graceful young girl who could leap above everyone in his class.
However, when he reads that Jane committed suicide by leaping out of a window in the fourth stanza, his memory is damaged. He comes to a cruel realization of the "enternal process most obsessively wrong with the world." He realizes that death and unhappiness can come from even the happiest of memories. However, instead of accepting this truth the speaker tries to ignore it. He tells Jane to "stay where you are in my first mind." He chooses to reject this image of her "body crushed-in the top of a parked taxi" in order to preserve his fondness of this moment.
The says that when Jane leapt she "touched the end of something I began." This phrase connects the leap with the other significant symbol in the poem; the paper chain. The speaker sees the paper chain as his connection to this mesmerizing event of his past. He tells Jane to "hang on to that reing I made for you" in the hopes that if she will hang on he will be able to as well. He is rooting himself in the past, in this memory, and hiding from the tragedies of the present. The paper chain is his connection not only to Jane, but to the happiness of his childhood.
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