While Anne Sexton and Robert Fagles were both inspired by the Van Gogh painting The Starry Night, they execute their ideas into two similar yet very different poems. Primarily, despite the fact that both poems are named after the same painting, the subject, their experiences, and the speaker of each poem are different. Additionally, both poets stimulate the reader’s senses through different images to evoke a similar gloomy atmosphere and convey the theme of death and madness. Thus, Sexton and Fagles employ the use of distinct subjects, speakers, and rich imagery to establish theme, tone and atmosphere.
In Sexton’s poem, the subject of the poem is the relationship between the painting The Starry Night and Sexton herself. The poet cleverly introduces …show more content…
Primarily, the title itself provides a mental image of the painting to the reader. In Sexton’s poem, this image is further reiterated by the descriptions of “the town”, “hot sky”, and how the “night boils with eleven stars” (3-4). Sexton stimulates the reader’s senses by emphasizing points such how “it moves” (7) in order to encourage the reader to visualize the The Starry Night painting as if it is moving. This poet provides vivid and dark imagery throughout the poem by using similes and metaphors. She mentions how the tree in the painting looks a “drowned woman into the hot sky” (3) and refers to the wind in the painting as the “old unseen serpent” that “swallows up the stars” (10). This imagery contributes to the suicidal atmosphere of the poem because the poet uses these images to support and represent her vision of “how [she] want[s] to die” (5-6, 11-12). Additionally, these images also contribute to the understanding of the theme of suicide and death because all the actions described in the examples of the imagery involves either a literal method of dying (i.e. drowning), a figurative representation of death (i.e. swallowing up) or indicates omens of death like a serpent or …show more content…
Unlike the suicidal atmosphere that is produced by Sexton’s poem, Fagles’ poem contributes to a more submissive and sacrificial tone because he wishes for god to take his life rather than boldly fantasizing about dying or actively seeking out death like Sexton. However, both poems contribute to the overall theme of death. It can be argued that an additional theme of both poems is madness due to the wish of both speakers to die. Out of the two poems however, Fagles’ poem contains more elements that would suggest the theme of madness such as the imagery mentioned, lack of punctuation, repetition of the word “madness” (5, 21) and the altering indentation. Even though Sexton may be just as equally mad due to her dark fascination with the painting, her poem lacks the qualities mentioned that strengthen the theme of
In Sexton’s poem, the subject of the poem is the relationship between the painting The Starry Night and Sexton herself. The poet cleverly introduces …show more content…
Primarily, the title itself provides a mental image of the painting to the reader. In Sexton’s poem, this image is further reiterated by the descriptions of “the town”, “hot sky”, and how the “night boils with eleven stars” (3-4). Sexton stimulates the reader’s senses by emphasizing points such how “it moves” (7) in order to encourage the reader to visualize the The Starry Night painting as if it is moving. This poet provides vivid and dark imagery throughout the poem by using similes and metaphors. She mentions how the tree in the painting looks a “drowned woman into the hot sky” (3) and refers to the wind in the painting as the “old unseen serpent” that “swallows up the stars” (10). This imagery contributes to the suicidal atmosphere of the poem because the poet uses these images to support and represent her vision of “how [she] want[s] to die” (5-6, 11-12). Additionally, these images also contribute to the understanding of the theme of suicide and death because all the actions described in the examples of the imagery involves either a literal method of dying (i.e. drowning), a figurative representation of death (i.e. swallowing up) or indicates omens of death like a serpent or …show more content…
Unlike the suicidal atmosphere that is produced by Sexton’s poem, Fagles’ poem contributes to a more submissive and sacrificial tone because he wishes for god to take his life rather than boldly fantasizing about dying or actively seeking out death like Sexton. However, both poems contribute to the overall theme of death. It can be argued that an additional theme of both poems is madness due to the wish of both speakers to die. Out of the two poems however, Fagles’ poem contains more elements that would suggest the theme of madness such as the imagery mentioned, lack of punctuation, repetition of the word “madness” (5, 21) and the altering indentation. Even though Sexton may be just as equally mad due to her dark fascination with the painting, her poem lacks the qualities mentioned that strengthen the theme of