Comment 2 of 2, added on February 3rd, 2006 at 3:10 AM.
My mouth blooms like a cut.
I've been wronged all year, tedious
nights, nothing but rough elbows in them
and delicate boxes of Kleenex calling crybaby
crybaby , you fool!
Before today my body was useless.
Now it's tearing at its square corners.
It's tearing old Mary's garments off, knot by knot
and see -- Now it's shot full of these electric bolts.
Zing! A resurrection!
Once it was a boat, quite wooden
and with no business, no salt water under it
and in need of some paint. It was no more
than a group of boards. But you hoisted her, rigged her.
She's been elected.
My nerves are turned on. I hear them like
musical instruments. Where there was silence
the drums, the strings are incurably playing. You did this.
Pure genius at work. Darling, the composer has stepped
into fire.
Anne Sexton is a modern poet. She presents human psychology in her poems artistically. She always tries to display the present state of her mind through some words.
Kissing in her mouth felt like a cut. She felt no emotion. She felt that she had been wronged all the year. Nights were boring to her. She had been sexually exploited. She had not been treated like a young woman, but like a baby. Her body was useless without any youthful vigour and emotions. However, it is all the matter of past.
At present, her relationship with a man is that of Mary with Light. In the Bible Mary was touched by the light and as a result, she conceived and gave birth to Jesus Christ. Similarly the poet's present relationship is fruitful. She has also conceived a baby. Conception of the baby and the birth of it is like the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a great deed. The poet wants to say that her misery has passed away now.
However, it was miserable in the past. She had to face rape, incest, abortion, drug-addict, insanity and contradiction of maternity. But the kiss that she has got at present is the symbol of creation, reproduction and generation. The kiss stands for the same light that made Mary pregnant and resulted in the birth of Jesus. Thus the poem is also an allusion to the Bible.
The poet compares herself with a wooden boat with 'no business; no salt water under it'. She was no more than the non-living wooden boards, which badly needed painting. Here painting symbolises excitement in life. She got it all with her new relationship. Her man 'hoisted her, rigged her, she's been elected; as the man understands her feelings and emotions well.
In the last stanza, she talks about her meaningful life. Now her nerves are 'turned on' i.e. she is excited for living. She has started to hear music in life. Her nerves are serving as musical instruments. But in past very boring was the dead silence in life. Now the silence has been broken by the music of life. It has been all cured although it seemed to have been incurable in the past. For all this, the poet owes to the man who brought exciting moment in her life. She thinks that the man has done genius at work. Finally she says that the music composer of her life has stepped into fire. The 'fire' can be interpreted as the desire for sex, creation and reproduction, as fire changes things anew.
The poem is written in the free verse. However, imagery, symbol and allusion to the Bible make the poem rich and highly philosophical.
Khem Raj Chapagain from
Nepal
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Comments
My mouth blooms like a cut.
I've been wronged all year, tedious
nights, nothing but rough elbows in them
and delicate boxes of Kleenex calling crybaby
crybaby , you fool!
Before today my body was useless.
Now it's tearing at its square corners.
It's tearing old Mary's garments off, knot by knot
and see -- Now it's shot full of these electric bolts.
Zing! A resurrection!
Once it was a boat, quite wooden
and with no business, no salt water under it
and in need of some paint. It was no more
than a group of boards. But you hoisted her, rigged her.
She's been elected.
My nerves are turned on. I hear them like
musical instruments. Where there was silence
the drums, the strings are incurably playing. You did this.
Pure genius at work. Darling, the composer has stepped
into fire.
Anne Sexton is a modern poet. She presents human psychology in her poems artistically. She always tries to display the present state of her mind through some words.
Kissing in her mouth felt like a cut. She felt no emotion. She felt that she had been wronged all the year. Nights were boring to her. She had been sexually exploited. She had not been treated like a young woman, but like a baby. Her body was useless without any youthful vigour and emotions. However, it is all the matter of past.
At present, her relationship with a man is that of Mary with Light. In the Bible Mary was touched by the light and as a result, she conceived and gave birth to Jesus Christ. Similarly the poet's present relationship is fruitful. She has also conceived a baby. Conception of the baby and the birth of it is like the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a great deed. The poet wants to say that her misery has passed away now.
However, it was miserable in the past. She had to face rape, incest, abortion, drug-addict, insanity and contradiction of maternity. But the kiss that she has got at present is the symbol of creation, reproduction and generation. The kiss stands for the same light that made Mary pregnant and resulted in the birth of Jesus. Thus the poem is also an allusion to the Bible.
The poet compares herself with a wooden boat with 'no business; no salt water under it'. She was no more than the non-living wooden boards, which badly needed painting. Here painting symbolises excitement in life. She got it all with her new relationship. Her man 'hoisted her, rigged her, she's been elected; as the man understands her feelings and emotions well.
In the last stanza, she talks about her meaningful life. Now her nerves are 'turned on' i.e. she is excited for living. She has started to hear music in life. Her nerves are serving as musical instruments. But in past very boring was the dead silence in life. Now the silence has been broken by the music of life. It has been all cured although it seemed to have been incurable in the past. For all this, the poet owes to the man who brought exciting moment in her life. She thinks that the man has done genius at work. Finally she says that the music composer of her life has stepped into fire. The 'fire' can be interpreted as the desire for sex, creation and reproduction, as fire changes things anew.
The poem is written in the free verse. However, imagery, symbol and allusion to the Bible make the poem rich and highly philosophical.
Khem Raj Chapagain from Nepal