18 pages 36 minutes read

William Butler Yeats

Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1932

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Symbols & Motifs

Dirt and Filth

Dirt, filth, and excrement in “Crazy Jane Talks with the Bishop” represent different things to the Bishop and to Jane. The Bishop warns Jane of her impending consignment to a “foul sty” (Line 6) rather than a cleaner, more luxurious afterlife. For him, dirt aligns with sin and damnation. Jane sets forth the argument that “fair needs foul” (Line 8), that salvation cannot exist without sin, but also that the “foul” (Lines 6-8) parts of life also lead to its regeneration. Jane goes on to say neither “grave nor bed” (Line 10) refutes her assertion. The grave suggests the physical dirt of the earth, the end of life, while the bed represents sexuality, considered another kind of filth by the Bishop and the culture to which he belongs. Jane reminds this celibate man of the force that generates all life, and professes that love exists in the lowest of places, in the waste-disposing regions of the body. Jane throws this image at the Bishop not just to shock him, but to illustrate the depths from which life can spring. In fact, she insists, the very brokenness and filthiness the Bishop rejects exists as the necessary precursor to transfiguration.

Related Titles

By William Butler Yeats

Study Guide

logo

Among School Children

William Butler Yeats

Among School Children

William Butler Yeats

Study Guide

logo

A Prayer for My Daughter

William Butler Yeats

A Prayer for My Daughter

William Butler Yeats

Study Guide

logo

A Vision

William Butler Yeats

A Vision: An Explanation of Life Founded upon the Writings of Giraldus and upon Certain Doctrines Attributed to Kusta Ben Luka

William Butler Yeats

Plot Summary

logo

Cathleen Ni Houlihan

William Butler Yeats

Cathleen Ni Houlihan

William Butler Yeats

Study Guide

logo

Death

William Butler Yeats

Death

William Butler Yeats

Study Guide

logo

Easter, 1916

William Butler Yeats

Easter, 1916

William Butler Yeats

Study Guide

logo

Leda and the Swan

William Butler Yeats

Leda and the Swan

William Butler Yeats

Study Guide

logo

No Second Troy

William Butler Yeats

No Second Troy

William Butler Yeats

Study Guide

logo

Sailing to Byzantium

William Butler Yeats

Sailing to Byzantium

William Butler Yeats

Study Guide

logo

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

William Butler Yeats

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

William Butler Yeats

Study Guide

logo

The Wild Swans at Coole

William Butler Yeats

The Wild Swans at Coole

William Butler Yeats

Study Guide

logo

When You Are Old

William Butler Yeats

When You Are Old

William Butler Yeats