An Analysis of Sarah Orne Jewett’s,
A White Heron
The day I see a leaf is a marvel of a day
-Kenneth Patton
The What Statement
• The author describes Sylvia’s experience through nature
and romanticism to show the transformation from a little
girl into a brave heroine.
How and Literary Elements
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Contrast in description
Transformation of Sylvia
Personification
Nature imagery
Denotation of Sylvia’s name
Connotation of Heron
Romanticism
Symbolism of colors
Contrast between society vs. nature
Contrast in description of Sylvia
First Section
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Last Section
• “Determined spark of
“Little girl” (12)
human spirit (45)
“Small and silly” (17)
• “Brave” (50)
“Thin little fingers” (39) • “Solitary grey eyed
“She knew it well” (10)
child” (52)
• “Sylvia’s face was like
a pale star” (55)
Transformation of Sylvia
Three Main Shifts
• 1-18
- " The little girl had often laid her hand on the great rough
truck and looked up whistfully at those dark boughs that
the wind always stirred"(12-14)
• 19-54
- " with tingling, eager blood couring the channels of her
whole frame," (18-19)
• 55-70
- " truly it was a vast and awesome world"(Line 70)
Personification
• “The sharp dry twigs caught and held her and
scratched her like angry talons” (Line 37-38)
• “It must truly have been amazed that morning through
all it ponderous frame as it felt this determined spark of
human spirit"(43-45)
• “The old pine must have loved his new
dependent.”(49)
• “And the tree stood still and held away the winds that
June morning while the dawn grew bright in the
east”(52-54)
Nature Imagery
•Repetition: Describes trees as “great” in admiration to them as a
little girl
– “a great pine tree” (line 2)
– “the great rough trunk” (line 13-14)
– “tree’s great stem” (line 40)
•Description of nature around her from top of the tree shows her
new perspective on the world
–“there was the sea with the dawning sun making a golden dazzle
over it” (lines 58-59)
–“toward that glorious east flew two hawks with slow moving
pinions” (lines 60-61)
–“their [hawks] gray feathers were soft as moths; they seemed only
a little way from the tree” (lines 63-64)
Denotation of Sylvia’s Name
•Syl·van
–Adjective; pertaining to, consisting of, or living in woods or forests
•The author purposely gave Sylvia her name from the adjective
sylvan, to show the importance of nature to Sylvia’s character
•Since her name relates to trees, she is confident and knows the
forest
–“Sylvia knew it well” (line 10)
–“Sylvia felt her way easily” (line 27)
–Sylvia feels at ease and like she’s at home when she is in trees
Connotation of the Heron
•Describes experience as a great adventure and she’s discovering
new things
–“It was like a great main-mast to the voyaging earth…”(lines-42-43)
–“…truly it was a vast and awesome world” (line 69)
•She felt like she was a bird and could fly
–“and Sylvia felt as if she too could go flying away among the clouds”
(lines 65-66)
Romanticism
• Romanticism was based around ideals that came around
in the late 18th century. There was a heavy emphasis on
breaking away from the cities and getting back to nature.
This was in part motivated by the increase in
industrialism, where the people thought it was destroying
society and they wanted to go back to the old ways.
• This piece is heavily vested in nature, as the heroine’s
quest took place there and had lots of imagery of nature.
• Romanticism drove the epiphany at the end, as she saw
“it was a vast and awesome world” (Jewett 69)
Symbolism of colors that shift
throughout the piece
• Many shifts in colors throughout the piece,
defining her mindset and following her
transformation
• First section defined by normal colors “white,”
“green,” and “red” showing her original idea of the
world (Jewett 22, 24, 25)
• Second section defined by “gray” and “pale”
which indicates how she has become reflective
(Jewett 52, 55)
• Third Section defined by “golden dazzle” and
“dark against blue” that shows how she has been
transformed (Jewett 59, 63)
Imagery of Society in context of nature
• The society is described as “woodlands and
farms reached miles and miles into the distance;
here and there were church steeples, and white
villages” (Jewett 67-69)
• Likely near the end of romanticism, has a closer
look as the villages closer to nature.
• Society was still separate and very small in
comparison to the nature, fitting into romanticism
Diction in the piece
• Chosen words to connect her to nature, “held her
and scratched her like angry talons” and “this
weak, light creature” (Jewett 37-38, 48)
• Words describing color were chosen purposefully
to show transformation
• Uses words like “great,” “ponderous,” monstrous,”
and “vast” to show how big the world and nature
is and makes comparison to herself at the start,
“small and silly” (Jewett 2, 17, 21, 45, 69)
Relation
The movie Pocahontas has many references to nature, and it
being more pure than society. It reflects romanticism as the
cities are coming to destroy nature, and is stopped by nature in
the end. There is also a lot of personification of nature
throughout the movie, like in the passage.