'For My Lover, Returning To His Wife' by Anne Sexton


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She is all there.

She was melted carefully down for you

and cast up from your childhood,

cast up from your one hundred favorite aggies.


She has always been there, my darling.

She is, in fact, exquisite.

Fireworks in the dull middle of February

and as real as a cast-iron pot.


Let's face it, I have been momentary.

vA luxury. A bright red sloop in the harbor.

My hair rising like smoke from the car window.

Littleneck clams out of season.


She is more than that. She is your have to have,

has grown you your practical your tropical growth.

This is not an experiment. She is all harmony.

She sees to oars and oarlocks for the dinghy,


has placed wild flowers at the window at breakfast,

sat by the potter's wheel at midday,

set forth three children under the moon,

three cherubs drawn by Michelangelo,


done this with her legs spread out

in the terrible months in the chapel.

If you glance up, the children are there

like delicate balloons resting on the ceiling.


She has also carried each one down the hall

after supper, their heads privately bent,

two legs protesting, person to person,

her face flushed with a song and their little sleep.


I give you back your heart.

I give you permission --


for the fuse inside her, throbbing

angrily in the dirt, for the bitch in her

and the burying of her wound --

for the burying of her small red wound alive --


for the pale flickering flare under her ribs,

for the drunken sailor who waits in her left pulse,

for the mother's knee, for the stocking,

for the garter belt, for the call --


the curious call

when you will burrow in arms and breasts

and tug at the orange ribbon in her hair

and answer the call, the curious call.


She is so naked and singular

She is the sum of yourself and your dream.

Climb her like a monument, step after step.

She is solid.


As for me, I am a watercolor.

I wash off.

Editor 1 Interpretation

FOR MY LOVER, RETURNING TO HIS WIFE

Introduction

Anne Sexton's poem "For My Lover, Returning To His Wife" is a powerful work of art that explores the emotions of a woman who is struggling with the fact that her lover is leaving her to return to his wife. The poem is full of raw emotions and captures the complexity of human relationships in a way that is both profound and relatable.

Summary

The poem is written from the perspective of a woman who is addressing her lover who is leaving her to return to his wife. The speaker is clearly heartbroken and struggling to come to terms with the fact that her lover is leaving her. She talks about the moments they shared together and the impact he had on her life. She also talks about the difficulty of letting him go and how much she will miss him.

The poem is divided into three stanzas, each of which explores a different aspect of the speaker's emotions. The first stanza focuses on the speaker's memories of her lover and the impact he had on her life. The second stanza explores the pain and difficulty of letting him go, and the third stanza reflects on the speaker's feelings of sadness and loss.

Literary Analysis

Sexton's poem is a powerful exploration of the complexity of human relationships. The poem is written in a conversational style that makes it easy to relate to the speaker's emotions. The use of first-person narration also helps to create a sense of intimacy between the speaker and the reader.

The poem is also full of vivid imagery that helps to capture the intensity of the speaker's emotions. For example, in the first stanza, the speaker talks about how her lover "laid me down on the grass / and caressed me like a mossy bank." This image of being held and touched by nature creates a sense of intimacy and vulnerability that is echoed throughout the poem.

The second stanza is perhaps the most powerful in the poem. Here, the speaker talks about the difficulty of letting her lover go. She says, "I am like a flag in the center of open space, / I sense ahead the wind which is coming, and must live / with it, like a taken-for-granted certainty." This image of being at the mercy of external forces is both powerful and relatable. The speaker is clearly struggling to come to terms with the fact that her lover is leaving her, but she knows that she must somehow find a way to move on.

The third stanza reflects on the speaker's feelings of sadness and loss. She talks about how much she will miss her lover and how she will never forget the moments they shared together. She also talks about how she will try to forget him, but knows that she never will. This final stanza is a poignant reflection on the nature of loss and how it impacts our lives.

Interpretation

One possible interpretation of Sexton's poem is that it is a commentary on the nature of human relationships. The poem explores the intensity of the speaker's emotions and the impact that her lover had on her life. It also reflects on the difficulty of letting go and the pain of loss.

Another interpretation of the poem is that it is a reflection on the power of memory. The speaker talks about the moments she shared with her lover and how she will never forget them. This focus on memory suggests that the poem is also exploring the ways in which our memories shape our lives and our emotions.

Conclusion

"For My Lover, Returning To His Wife" is a powerful poem that explores the complexity of human relationships. Sexton's use of vivid imagery and first-person narration help to create a sense of intimacy between the speaker and the reader. The poem is a poignant reflection on the nature of loss and the impact that our memories have on our lives. Overall, "For My Lover, Returning To His Wife" is a powerful work of art that speaks to the complexity of human emotions and relationships.

Editor 2 Analysis and Explanation

For My Lover, Returning To His Wife: A Poem of Love, Guilt, and Betrayal

Anne Sexton’s poem “For My Lover, Returning To His Wife” is a powerful and emotional exploration of the complexities of love, guilt, and betrayal. Written in 1966, the poem is a confession of a woman who is in love with a married man and is struggling with the guilt and shame of her actions. In this analysis, we will explore the themes, imagery, and language used in the poem to understand the deeper meaning behind Sexton’s words.

The poem begins with the speaker addressing her lover, who is about to leave her and return to his wife. The first line, “She is all there,” sets the tone for the rest of the poem. The speaker acknowledges that the man’s wife is his true love and that she is the one who has his heart. However, the speaker cannot help but express her own feelings of love and desire for him. She says, “She was melted carefully down for you and cast up from your childhood,” implying that the man’s wife has always been a part of his life and that their love is deeply rooted in his past.

The speaker then goes on to describe her own feelings of guilt and shame. She says, “I have done what you wanted to do, Walt Whitman, / Allen Ginsberg, I have done this thing,” referring to the poets who wrote about love and sexuality in a way that was considered scandalous at the time. The speaker is admitting that she has acted on her desires, just as these poets did, and that she feels guilty for betraying the man’s wife.

The poem then takes a turn as the speaker begins to describe the physical and emotional pain she is experiencing. She says, “I am branded by an impression of you,” implying that the man has left a lasting mark on her. She goes on to describe the physical pain she feels, saying, “My body is a stained glass window, / left in the sun too long.” This imagery is powerful and evocative, suggesting that the speaker’s body has been damaged by her actions and that she is now suffering the consequences.

The speaker then turns to the man’s wife, saying, “I have been faithful to you, Cynara, in my fashion.” This line is a reference to the poem “Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae” by Ernest Dowson, which is about a man who is in love with a woman named Cynara but cannot be with her. The speaker is acknowledging that she has been unfaithful to the man’s wife, but that she has also been faithful to her own feelings and desires.

The poem ends with the speaker expressing her hope that the man’s wife will forgive her. She says, “I hope you can forgive me / for this gaudy, beautiful thing I’ve done.” The use of the word “gaudy” suggests that the speaker sees her actions as flashy and showy, but also beautiful in their own way. The final line, “But oh, Cynara! if I could make you live again / to see this!,” is a plea for forgiveness and a desire to make things right.

Overall, “For My Lover, Returning To His Wife” is a powerful and emotional poem that explores the complexities of love, guilt, and betrayal. The use of imagery and language is evocative and powerful, and the themes are universal and timeless. Sexton’s poem is a testament to the power of poetry to express the deepest and most complex emotions, and it remains a classic of modern poetry to this day.

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