Jenny Kissed Me
Jenny kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me.
Commentary
Note: The Jenny in question was Jane Welsh Carlyle, wife of Thomas Carlyle. Hunt had just recovered from an extended battle with influenza, and when he went to tell the Carlyles the news, Jenny (in a very uncharacteristic move) leaped up and kissed him.
While Hunt is perhaps best known for ‘Abou Ben Adhem’1, I think the charming, somewhat whimsical ‘Jenny Kissed Me’ is a far nicer poem. The simple, unaffected lyrics hide the construction somewhat, which is how it should be - however, several details of the form are notable.
First off, the poem is perfectly trochaic2, which is neither common nor easy. Moreover, it is probably the most natural piece of trochaic verse I’ve seen. It also avoids both the common traps of trochaic verse, one being a tendency to sound singsong (thanks in part to the fact that the most common perfect trochaics around are nursery rhymes like ‘Twinkle, twinkle little star’) and the tendency to sound heavy and solemn. The latter is not technically a trap; it is due to the ‘falling’ pattern of a trochaic foot, and is often used to good effect. However, here the poem is slightly more lighthearted, and needs something to offset the trochees. That something is provided by the feminine rhymes - masculine rhymes are usually associated with serious poetry, and feminine and triple rhymes with lighter verse, and most serious trochaic poetry drops the last syllable throughout, having implied caesuras (pauses) at the end of each line. The singsong effect is offset by the abab (as opposed to aabb) rhyme scheme - it makes the verse, rather than the couplet, the basic unit of the poem - and by the alternate feminine rhymes, which tend to group every two lines into a longer line, with the masculine rhymes being deemphasized.
The verse pattern used here (alternating between implied caesuras and feminine rhymes) lends the poem a very natural tone, putting the reader in comfortable and familiar territory versewise, and letting the words get across unhindered and unshadowed by formal complications.
‘Jen ny ‘kiss’d me ‘when we ‘met etc.
— Martin
Biography and Assessment
Hunt, (James Henry) Leigh
b. Oct. 19, 1784, Southgate, Middlesex, Eng. d. Aug. 28, 1859, Putney, London
English essayist, critic, journalist, and poet, who was an editor of influential journals in an age when the periodical was at the height of its power. He was also a friend and supporter of the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats. Hunt’s poems, of which “Abou Ben Adhem” and “Jenny Kissed Me” are probably the best known, reflect the influence of foreign versification.
Though he falls short of greatness, Hunt, at his best, in some essays and his Autobiography (1850; a rewriting of Lord Byron and Some of His Contemporaries, 1828), has a charm that has gained him a high place in his readers’ affection. He excels in perceptive judgments of his contemporaries, from Keats to the Victorian Tennyson; and, as Radical journalist, though not much interested in politics, he attacks oppression with indignation. He considered himself to be essentially a dilettante.
The poems in Juvenilia (1801), his first volume, show his love for Italian literature. He looked to Italy for a “freer spirit of versification,” and in The Story of Rimini (1816), published in the year of his meeting with Keats, he reintroduced a freedom of movement in English couplet verse lost in the 18th century. From him Keats derived his delight in colour and imaginative sensual experience and a first acquaintance with Italian poetry, a potent influence long after he had outgrown Hunt’s tutelage.
– EB
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From the Wondering Minstrels mailing list, 1999–2008.
Sirley Clifford · 2 January 2001
This is a delicious piece of writing…never mind the technical structure…which so enchanted me as a 12 year old (53 years ago) that I have kept my schoolgirl “Palgrave’s Golden Treasury of English Verse” to this day for the pleasure of re-reading it.
I’m no wacko ‘New Ager’ but do find there’s a dimension in some writing akin to the qualities in music (Mozart particularly) that bypasses the intellect and resonates at a mysterious depth. I know all the stuff about Fibonnacci numbers and fractals that seek to explain this as a purely natural phenomenon traceable back to natural selection but (and I’m no religious nut either) I’m more of the opinion that the Bible’s declaration that we ‘see through a glass darkly’ is objective truth and that sometimes the glass is momentarily a little less dark. “Jenny Kissed me’ is one of my vehicles for this glimpse of I-know-not-what.
PS…I make a living as an Editor..you must wonder that I haven’t starved!
Pky Zztar · 24 June 2001
I remember reading this poem in high school (40 years ago) and thinking to myself “One day I’ll have a daughter, and I’ll name her Jenny.” I married a girl I first met in kindergarten, and 3 years later she gave birth to our first child, Jennifer Ann… “Jenny”.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw her, the nurses pushed my wife’s hospital bed down the hallway toward me, and as we met, my wife reached up and pulled down the sheet that covered her. In the embrace of her arm lay our first child, our beautiful little girl. My feet could hardly reach the floor! Her beauty was simply radiant. I leaned down and kissed my wife and then my daughter. I lightly put my cheek against her lips, and received my first of many kisses from this angel. I recited the poem “Jenny Kissed Me” to her, and then watched as the nurses took them on to their room.
That was 33 years ago, and she is still the light of my life. Is it any surprise that this is my favorite poem?
Peter Kaczmarek · 11 April 2003
English is a language which I learned as a 30 years old engineer, so I know basically nothing about English poetry in original version and it’s technical meanders. Nevertheless when I read “Jenny Kissed Me” in the Toronto subway (poetry on the wall of subway car filling up space between advertisements), I was overwhelmed by it’s simple beauty. By the time I reached my destination I knew it by hard. It will stay with me forever. Thank You. Regards,
Peter Kaczmarek.
jalleva · 28 May 2003
I am writing a biography of my father for his 80th birthday party and I wanted to include some of his favorite sayings and poems. Even though he’s recited this poem to me a million times (although in recent years, it’s only been a simple “Jenny Kissed Me”…) I wanted to get the wording perfect and I stumbled on this web site. I love this poem–it will always remind me of the special place I have in my dad’s heart! Jennifer (Jenny) A.
KJPHATMAN · 17 September 2003
Tremendous
Betty Van Slyke · 7 October 2003
Jenny Kissed Me
When I first read it in high school 56 years ago, I loved it and memorized it. I can’t tell you why I like it; I know nothing about poetry construction. Today I read it and cried and smiled at the same time.
I know when a poem is good. I write a little myself, and when I write a good one, I know it. When it’s not good, I know it.
I don’t think anyone could every teach me the disciplines or whatever is taught about how to write poetry. I think it would stifle the poetry that is inside me and that I will convert into written words.
Walter Edvalson · 20 November 2003
I have a book entitled ‘500 Greatest American Poems.’ ‘Jenny Kissed Me’ is one of the 500 poems (as is Hunt’s other poem ‘Abou Ben Adhem’ and Lord Byron’s ‘So We’ll Go No More a-Roving’ - two other poems that I really love). In this book it states that Hunt went to tell Jenny Carlyle’s husband, Thomas, that he was going to be publishing one of his (Thomas) poems and that Jenny jumped up and kissed him (Hunt) when he gave her the news.
I only bring this up because an earlier comment stated that Jenny kissed him when she heard that he had just recovered from the flu. I’m not sure which one is correct, but since it was in the book (500 Poems), I will take the story about learning that her husband’s poem was to be published (it’s more romantic anyway) as the true story about this poem.
Walter Edvalson
Rainbow Adler · 12 December 2003
I do not know how many years ago I heard only the last 3 lines of this poem, but they have stayed with me an evoke remarkable emotion. As part of a newly formed writing group, our next project involves poetic form and the choice of a favorite poem. This immediately surfaced and good old Yahoo search proved it’s value. The addition of the history of the poem round out the fullness of it for me. Nothing technical to write about it, just the appreciation of a beautifully created moment. Bob Adler
Bill Wanschura · 28 December 2003
My first child was a daughter, Jennifer Ellen. I acquired a poetry treasury book which included “Jenny Kissed Me” a few years after she was born. She was married this past May, and I read the poem at the reception (without crying, I might add!). I then presented the book to my new son-in-law Patrick, since now my Jennie belongs to him. It was one of the most touching moments of my life.
Bill Wanschura
David Carter · 22 March 2004
Those of us who have loved and lost a Jennifer-Harding in my case- will forever have this poem as a bittersweet reminder.
David
musicminister · 24 March 2004
Maybe James Leigh Hunt “falls short of greatness” in the totality of his work, but when he created “Jenny Kissed Me”, he, for one brief moment, tapped into wherever greatness lies and created the perfect “romantic” poem. Sure, it’s not long enough to be considered something “great” by the pundits, but, to me, there is no better evocation of the smiling-through-tears, bittersweet, heart-breaking essence that is romanticism than this little perfectly cut diamond.
Eddy Wilson
Kannapolis, NC, USA
Scott Albers · 9 June 2004
I came across this poem - Jenny Kissed Me - the last day of high school in Advanced Placement English. The teacher asked us to read some poem which was particularly memorable, which was our favorite, and this one somehow came across the conversation. I said, then and there, that this was my favorite poem, and it remains so to this day. It sums up everything that is worthwhile - or which to my mind can ever be worth while - in a man’s life. At the end of the day, if Jenny has kissed you, your life is worth while. If not, well… there’s always reincarnation I suppose.
Scott Albers
Joe Harkins · 11 November 2004
I first encountered this poem in 1948 in a Jesuit high school class taught by Father Daniel Berrigan in Jersey City, NJ. I’ve been able to quote it ever since. Yes, say, I’m old. Now, in November 2004, I’ve met a blue-eyed Genny. Close enough for me.
scot_public · 11 April 2005
I first came across this poem at high school in an old unwanted poetry book - I liked it so much I kept the book - years later as it turned out I married someone called Jenny - at our wedding we each chose something to be read out - Jenny had a piece from the bible and me being known as a bit of a philosopher come rambler had a a friend read this but preface it with “for his reading Scot has chosen something by the 18th centure English philosopher and writer James Leigh Hunt…..” and then when everyone was expecting something boring out came this whimsical poem – I still recite it to her occasionaly :-)
John D'Angelo · 18 December 2005
I first came across this poem when I was on a bus in Manhatten. I was immediately struck by the simple beauty of it, and the underlying message that love cannot be beaten down. I scribbled down the poem in my notepad as quickly as I could before my stop came up and it is still my favorite. That was many years ago, and I am now 68 years old and retired. Today I live far from Manhatten and that bus, but the poem will be with me always.
Thanks for posting it!
W. Stark · 13 June 2006
I like this poem, its cute…
Carolyn Mason · 20 September 2006
It was a pleasure to read the ways in which a poem I love has touched so many people.
Klinger, in the psychology book ‘Meaning and Void’, reports that most people find it is close relationships that make their lives worthwhile. This poem is a wonderful expression of the way simple interactions with others give our lives meaning. Best of all, it reminds me that I get to keep those joyful parts of my life whatever else happens in my life. And, if not for this poem, I would not have found this website! (But I do wish Hunt had written ‘loves’ rather than ‘love’.)
Michael Hogan · 21 September 2006
Leigh Hunt was a minor poet in a time when Shelley and Keats were writing their great poems. Yet, “Jenny Kissed Me” survives in anthologies, on trains, in scribbled notebooks, texts, and in the heart of generations of readers. It is heartening to all poets, however minor, and an incentive to keep on writing. The poem which will last forever may come from anywhere.
Michael Hogan
Guadaljara, Mexico
HughMarsha · 27 September 2006
Hi. Are you the Scot Albers from York High ? Am on a Committee for our “ 40th” Class of 1966 and you are on our “lost list”. …some have asked about you so I googled ad found this moving comment! Cheers, Marsha Endahl Kramer
Marsha Endahl Kramer
3507 Oaks Way, Apt. 309
Pompano Beach, FL
Nch1000 · 10 October 2006
Cancel last Email. It was obviously not from May 1999
Nch1000 · 10 October 2006
This poem appears in a novel by MARY HIGGINS CLARK in 1982
furthermore,some of the lines in this poem appear to have been plagiarised from the 1952 song JENNY KISSED ME by Bob Merrill and recorded in that year by GUY MITCHELL.
Comments please!!!!!!!
Leigh J. Halliwell · 6 January 2008
Dear Editor:
Please add the following comments to “Jenny Kissed Me:”
My mother, an English major in College, so loved James Leigh Hunt, particularly his poem “Jenny Kissed Me,” that she named me Leigh. I always knew about the poem, but it mattered nothing to me until last year, when I was fifty-one and going through a divorce. At that time I met and fell in love with a woman named Ginny (close enough to “Jenny”), whom I will always love. My Ginny once rose from her seat and kissed me on the forehead, and however time may taunt and ravage me henceforth, I can console myself that Ginny kissed me.
Sincerely,
Leigh J. Halliwell