Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Angel of Clean Sheets," the second part of Anne Sexton’s "Angels of the Love Affair", the poet continues to explore the complex and often harrowing interplay between purity, defilement, and the haunting memories of trauma. The poem confronts the tension between the ideal of cleanliness, represented by the "Angel of clean sheets," and the grim reality of past experiences that cannot be washed away.

The invocation of the "Angel of clean sheets" suggests an aspiration towards purity, comfort, and safety—the associations we often have with fresh, clean bedding. However, the poem quickly subverts this image by asking the angel if it knows "bedbugs," introducing a sharp contrast between the ideal and the real. Bedbugs, small and parasitic, are a symbol of infestation and violation, undermining the safety and cleanliness that the angel represents.

Sexton delves into a specific memory from a "madhouse," where the bedbugs "came like specks of cinnamon." The comparison to cinnamon, a spice often associated with warmth and comfort, ironically heightens the horror of the situation, as these "specks" bring discomfort and degradation instead. The setting is described as a "chloral cave of drugs," with the speaker lying "as old as a dog, as quiet as a skeleton." This imagery conveys a profound sense of vulnerability and desolation, as the speaker is reduced to a state of inertness and decay.

The mention of "Little bits of dried blood" and "One hundred marks upon the sheet" deepens the sense of violation, with the marks symbolizing both physical and emotional scars. The "hundred kisses in the dark" is a deeply unsettling image, conflating the tenderness of a kiss with the violence of an insect bite, suggesting an experience of defilement that masquerades as intimacy or care.

The next lines, "White sheets smelling of soap and Clorox / have nothing to do with this night of soil," starkly contrast the ideal of cleanliness with the reality of the speaker’s past. Soap and Clorox, symbols of sterilization and purity, are powerless against the "night of soil"—a night of contamination, both literal and metaphorical. The "barred windows and multiple locks" evoke a sense of imprisonment, further emphasizing the inescapable nature of the speaker's trauma.

Sexton’s reference to the different kinds of beds she has slept in—silk, red, black, sand, and even a haystack—underscores the variety of experiences that have shaped her, each one different but none offering true safety or peace. The reference to a crib and the "tuck-in of a child" evokes a moment of innocence and care, but it is quickly overshadowed by the darkness that lies "inside my hair," a metaphor for the internalized trauma that persists despite external appearances of normalcy.

The closing line, "the night I was defiled," is a stark and powerful declaration. It anchors the poem in the memory of a specific night of violation, a moment that continues to haunt the speaker. This night, though perhaps buried under layers of time and experience, remains indelible, a stain that even the "clean sheets" of the angel cannot erase.

"Angel of Clean Sheets" thus encapsulates the persistent tension between the desire for purity, safety, and cleanliness, and the inescapable reality of past traumas that defile and mark the psyche. Sexton’s imagery is potent and unsettling, drawing the reader into the painful and often contradictory experiences that shape the self. The poem suggests that no matter how much we may strive for or surround ourselves with symbols of cleanliness and order, the scars of defilement remain, inscribed in memory and identity.

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