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Analysis and comments on The Truth the Dead Know by Anne Sexton

Comment 3 of 3, added on February 15th, 2008 at 12:17 PM.

I think it's profound that she left the corpse to the hurst, the stone
boat, and the ground, and went to commune with her lost parents in nature.
We are so consumed with the lifeless physical body that we forget it has
nothing to do with our essense any more than the "words" that make up the
sentence "I love you" or the sentence itself have any experiential
connection with the the sentiment they express--they are merely containers
in which we hope to convey essence; just becuase you erase the words
doesn't mean you've eliminated the reality of the sentiment. I think our
fixation on the physical body is self serving. It's away to seperate
ourselves from the dead, as if to say that because I have breath and a
pulse I am a live. It makes us feel safe and affirms our existence.
However, the truth is I know people whose bodies are dead but are having a
far greater active impact on the world in each moment of every day than
some people whose biological clock is still ticking but are merely
mechanically going through life with no effect on the world around them.

M. Gormaly from United States
Comment 2 of 3, added on April 25th, 2006 at 6:35 PM.

Its deep, truly. It takes a whole different angle on death and the process
of a funeral, and two so close together in time. You can really feel the
mind of Anne Sexton in this.

Cait from United States
Comment 1 of 3, added on June 25th, 2005 at 7:25 PM.

I love it, it's beautiful but sad at the same time

matt from United States



Information about The Truth the Dead Know

Poet: Anne Sexton
Poem: The Truth the Dead Know
Added: Feb 6 2004
Viewed: 6926 times
Poem of the Day: Sep 23 2000


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