Analysis Of For My Lover Returning To His Wife

The poem ‘For my lover, Returning to his wife’, captures the depressing realization of a mistress as she assesses her temporary role in the life of her married lover. The persona speaks from a place of anguish and often time compares herself to her lover’s wife through the use of metaphorical illustrations, similes and overly dramatized sarcasm. In analyzing this literary piece the persona should be set aside from the author so as to give the poem its truest meaning. Anne Sexton a renowned poet who rose to fame through her so-called self confessional poems such as “To Bedlam and Part Way Back” (1960), "You, Doctor Martin," "The Bells," and "The Double Image" was able to convince her readers that her poems echoed her life but in actuality her …show more content…
The persona in the first four stanzas highlights what her lover’s wife means to him; she describes her as his “Fireworks in the dull middle of February,” “as real as a cast-iron pot” and his “have to have” who was carefully molded from his childhood just for him. Conversely, the speaker equates herself to a “bright red sloop in the harbor” and “Littleneck clams out of season” which is indicative of a momentary luxury, interest or thrill which will soon fade like smoke rising from a car window. Such interesting use of both simile and metaphor draws a distinction between the roles of a mistress and a wife. His wife, the person to whom he goes home to is the one who ultimately holds his heart. His mistress on the other hand is simply a fleeting luxury or amusement, someone who will not be there forever. Therefore the persona contends that she will never match up to her lover’s wife and seeks to remove herself from the equation through self-pitying comparisons. This is evidenced in the lines “Let's face it, I have been momentary… She is more than that. She is your have to have, has grown you your practical your tropical …show more content…
The speaker’s lover’s wife is solid, strong, and permanent (“She has always been there…”). A watercolor on the other hand is temporary, which this perfectly characterizes the speaker in the poem. Just as a watercolor only lasts temporarily before it’s washed off, the speaker only lasted temporarily in her lover’s life (“…I have been momentary.”). Summarily, the overall theme of the poem suggest that despite the pleasures associated with luxury and indulgence, such things in life are ultimately temporary, and calls for one to instead stick to something that will