Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Anne Sexton’s "Eating the Leftovers: The Consecrating Mother" is a lush, evocative exploration of the ocean as a symbol of the maternal, the divine, and the eternal. Through vivid imagery and metaphoric language, Sexton delves into themes of reverence, connection, and the human desire to understand and merge with forces that are vast, powerful, and ultimately unknowable. The poem presents the ocean as a consecrating force, a maternal entity that embodies both creation and destruction, life and death.

The poem opens with the speaker standing "before the sea," which is immediately personified as having "green blood," suggesting that the ocean is a living, breathing entity. The sea "rolls and rolls" in its perpetual motion, a constant force that has witnessed and absorbed the history of the world. The phrase "Do not give up one god / for I have a handful" introduces the idea of the ocean as a repository of divine power, a force that holds within it multiple deities or facets of the divine. This line implies that the ocean is a source of spiritual abundance, containing within it the essence of many gods, and thus should not be forsaken for the worship of just one.

As the "trade winds blew / in their twelve-fingered reversal," the speaker is rooted in place, observing the ocean’s rituals. The winds, with their anthropomorphic "twelve fingers," suggest a mystical, almost ritualistic reversal of natural order, as if the ocean and its elements are engaging in a sacred dance. The speaker remains passive, "simply stood on the beach," while the ocean performs its rites, creating "a cross of salt" and "hung up its drowned." The cross, a symbol of sacrifice and salvation, combined with the imagery of the drowned, evokes the idea of the ocean as a space of both death and resurrection. The drowned, offered up by the ocean, cry out "Deo Deo," a Latin invocation meaning "God," further reinforcing the ocean’s role as a consecrating, divine force.

Despite the ocean’s overwhelming power and the sacred rites it performs, the speaker feels isolated: "I wanted to share this / but I stood alone like a pink scarecrow." The scarecrow, typically a figure of fear and solitude, contrasts sharply with the grandeur of the ocean, emphasizing the speaker's feelings of insignificance and alienation in the face of such immense natural power. The use of "pink" adds a touch of vulnerability, suggesting the speaker’s fragile humanity.

The poem continues with the ocean described as "steaming in and out," breathing upon the shore in a rhythmic, almost erotic manner. The speaker admits, "I could not define her, / could not name her mood," acknowledging the ocean’s inscrutability and the difficulty of fully understanding or categorizing such a vast and multifaceted force. The ocean is likened to "a woman in labor," an image that connects the ocean to the process of creation, birth, and the pain and effort that accompany it. This laborious rolling of the ocean evokes the countless journeys, both literal and metaphorical, that have taken place across its waters: "those who had crossed / in antiquity, in nautical trade, in slavery." Here, Sexton touches on the historical significance of the ocean, which has been a conduit for both exploration and exploitation, a place of both freedom and suffering.

The ocean, the speaker reflects, "should be entered skin to skin, / and put on like one's first or last cloth." This intimate imagery suggests that the ocean is not just to be observed but to be physically, even spiritually, engaged with. To enter the ocean is to enter a sacred space, akin to a ritual or a sacrament, where one descends "into that ascension." This paradoxical phrase, "descending into that ascension," captures the dual nature of the ocean as a place of both profound depth and transcendent experience. The ocean’s surface is "slick as olive oil," a substance often associated with anointing and sanctification, further emphasizing its role as a consecrating force.

As the poem progresses, Sexton describes the ocean’s "big deep" as knowing "the law as it wears," a phrase that suggests the ocean’s inherent understanding of natural and cosmic laws. The ocean, with its "one hundred lips," is a force of destiny, coming in waves that are both inevitable and eternal. The imagery of the ocean’s "flashing buttocks made of unkillable life" and "milk-water breasts" imbues it with a primal, maternal energy, evoking the nurturing and sustaining qualities of the ocean as well as its raw, untamable power.

In a moment of communion, the speaker imagines entering the ocean at night, where she "shine[s] like a neon soprano." This image captures the transformative experience of merging with the ocean, where the speaker’s voice and presence are amplified and illuminated, becoming something both ethereal and electrified. The ocean, in this moment, becomes a space of both purification and glorification.

The poem concludes with the speaker’s acknowledgment of her humanity: "I am that clumsy human on the shore / loving you, coming, coming, / going." The repetition of "coming, coming, / going" reflects the cyclical nature of the ocean’s tides and the speaker’s ongoing, yet imperfect, attempt to connect with this vast and powerful force. The speaker’s final wish, "to put my thumb on you / like The Song of Solomon," references the biblical text known for its celebration of love and desire. This line suggests a longing to imprint herself upon the ocean, to claim a part of its power and mystery for herself, to be one with the divine and the eternal.

"Eating the Leftovers: The Consecrating Mother" is a rich and deeply symbolic meditation on the ocean as a maternal, divine force that embodies the mysteries of life, death, and creation. Through her use of vivid imagery and metaphor, Sexton explores the human desire to connect with, understand, and be consecrated by forces that are both nurturing and overwhelming. The poem captures the tension between the speaker’s reverence for the ocean and her sense of smallness in its presence, offering a powerful reflection on the ways in which we seek to find meaning and belonging in the face of the infinite.

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