William Butler Yeats’ poem “Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop” is demanding, despite its simple language. Its dense, vivid imagery is not always pleasant. The story is a simple one, but tells much of both the characters that do the speaking.
By the end of the poem, the reader has gained some true insight into Jane, raising the question of whether Jane is truly crazy or not. The bishop is not a well-developed character at all. He is simple there to get Jane to go off on her tangent. However, from his brief stanza, we can make some assumptions about the characters.First, we know that the bishop is much like any other clergyman, seeking to save someone that he feels is living a wasted life.
This assumption tells us much about Jane. Her withered body may not simply be from age. Rather, she may seem as though she is someone that the bishop feels needs “saving. ” This assumption can be made when he encourages her to “live in a Heavenly mansion / and not in some foul sty” (Yeats lines 5-6), a statement that leads the reader to believe that Jane may be slovenly or that her appearance reflects a life of poverty.Jane’s response that “fair is foul are near of kin / and fair needs foul” (Yeats lines 6-7) are reminiscent of Shakespeare’s three witches of Macbeth.
These lines reinforce Jane’s unfortunate appearance and also set up her following lines about love. Love, typically thought of as a fair emotion, has apparently been foul to Jane. Learning this fact about her life, one must also wonder if “foul” Jane was not once “fair” as well.The poem is complex and yet compact. Yeats shows the reader a great deal about his characters, but still leaves one wondering more about them.
One of the things that makes this poem most interesting is that Jane has an existence outside of its lines: she has loved and lost, she has read (or watched) Shakespeare. The poem “Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop” clearly shows why Yeats is considered one of the great masters of poetry.
