For My Lover Returning to his wife Flashcards
Anne Sexton Context.
- American writer
- Feminist
- “Confessional poet”: emotional content of her poetry.
- Reported to have affair with therpairst.
When was “For my Lover, returning to his wife” written?
- Written in 1968.
What sort of poetry did Sexton write?
- Wrote about controversial topics related to women.
Signifiance of title have word “for” in it. What else adds to this?
- Almost like letter, addressing the man directly (daring of a woman in 1960’s!)
- Coloquial language “let’s face it”, “for the bitch in her” conversational tone.
Theme of art in poem.
- Wife = “melted down.”
- “watercolour, I wash off.”
What could phrase “melted carefully down” link to?
- Connotations to myth of Pygmalion, sculptor fell in love with female statue.
Descriptions of solidity used for wife.
- “as real as a cast-iron pot.”
- “like a monument.”
- “she is solid.”
How does the speaker describe herself?
- “red sloop”: a boat used for pleasure, not practicality - metaphor for fleeting excitement.
- “Hair rising like smoke.”
- Smoke = temporary. Fire imagery; passion that can be burnt out quickly
How is wife described in relation to children?
- “done this with her legs spread out.” Almost like wife is artist; creating, carrying, birthing children.
- “under the moon”: mystical element to childbirth. Selene –> feminine goddess.
Signifiance of the wife being described as “fireworks in middle of february.”
- Metaphor.
- She stands out.
- She’s both exciting/ practical in ways woman in affair could never be!
How are the children described by Sexton?
- “drawn by Michelangelo.” Children = perfect, comparing to Sistene chapel building. Art imagery.
Signifiance of anaphora in latter part of poem.
- “I give you.”
- “For the”
- Emphasising the woman’s power in her choices.
Signifiance of lack of clear rhyme scheme
- Broken nature of woman after man prioritised the wife over herself.
Water imagery.
- “habour.”
- “drunken sailor.” wife guides the family like a sailor. “drunken” shows woman’s anger.
- “I am watercolour. I wash off”
Fire motif.
- “flickering flare in her ribs.”
- “burrying small red wound alive.”
- “hair rising like smoke.”
- Anger of wife/ temporary nature of woman.
Sexual undertones linked to wife.
- “climb her.”
- “burrow in arms and breasts.”
- “so naked and singular.”
Other than describing the wife as solid and “fireworks”, how else does the speaker describe her?
- “naked and singular.”
- No strings attached/ consequences from being with her (unlike the other woman.)
- Full stops at end of each line in this stanza. Clarity that comes from the wife.
Domestic imagery associated with wife.
- “mother’s knee, for the stockings.”
