Jenny Kiss’d Me by Leigh Hunt

1. Who is the poem addressed to?
The poem is addressed to Time (the capitalized ‘T’ suggests it is Father Time)
2. What does the first line of the poem infer about the relationship between the speaker and Jenny?
Answers will vary. Note: The poem’s first line says that Jenny kissed the speaker upon their meeting. It does not, however, state that it was their first meeting. Therefore, the relationship is not inferable, but possible answers may include: daughter and father, lovers, grandparent and granddaughter, or close friends.

3. What do you believe motivated Hunt to write this poem? Do you think there was more than one motivating factor?
Answers may vary. Example: One factor may simply be his joy in having been kissed by a beautiful woman. There seems to be a boasting quality in this poem, too, in his demanding Time to include this moment on its list of “Sweets.” Hunt mentions his growing old, and mentions that he is “weary,” “sad,” and that “health and wealth have miss’d” him. This, combined with his calling Time a “thief,” suggests this poem was meant as a sort of protest against the growing control time and age has over man. One thing time cannot control, he seems to be saying, is the fact that he was kissed by Jenny.