Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In "Bestiary U.S.A.: Lobster," Anne Sexton offers a vivid, almost melancholic portrayal of the lobster as a creature that embodies both strength and vulnerability, navigating a world that is largely indifferent to its existence. Through the poem’s exploration of the lobster’s life and eventual fate, Sexton crafts a meditation on isolation, the inexorable passage of time, and the looming inevitability of death.

The poem opens with a striking image: "A shoe with legs, / a stone dropped from heaven." This description immediately sets the tone for the lobster's depiction as an awkward, otherworldly creature, both heavy and grounded ("a stone") yet also marked by a sense of divine accident or displacement ("dropped from heaven"). The lobster, with its peculiar form, is something both familiar and strange, something utilitarian and yet mysterious. By comparing the lobster to a shoe, Sexton evokes a sense of everyday mundanity, while also suggesting that this creature is simply part of the machinery of life, performing its "mournful work alone."

The image of the lobster as "the old prospector for gold, / with secret dreams of God-heads and fish heads" adds a layer of depth to this portrayal. The lobster is likened to a prospector, a figure driven by hope and an endless search for something valuable or transcendent, yet it remains solitary in its efforts. The juxtaposition of "God-heads" and "fish heads" reflects the lobster’s dual existence—caught between the sacred and the mundane, the divine aspirations and the grim realities of survival. The lobster, in its quest, is a symbol of persistence and the pursuit of meaning, despite the apparent futility.

However, the lobster's existence takes a tragic turn as "suddenly a cradle fastens round him / and he is trapped as the U.S.A. sleeps." The "cradle" is a euphemism for the lobster trap, a device that ensnares the creature as it goes about its solitary work. The use of the word "cradle" is ironic, as it connotes safety and nurture, but here it becomes an instrument of death. The mention of the U.S.A. sleeping underscores the obliviousness of the world to the lobster’s plight; as humans go about their lives, unaware and indifferent, the lobster meets its fate.

The poem then shifts to a broader perspective, mentioning the distant actions of a woman lighting a cigarette, a car going over a bridge, and a bank being held up. These are everyday events that continue unabated, emphasizing the disconnect between the lobster's life and the world above the sea. The lobster "knows not of" these happenings; it is isolated in its existence, unaware of the larger world that is equally unaware of it. This reinforces the theme of isolation and the existential loneliness that pervades the lobster's life.

The final lines of the poem bring the lobster’s journey to its inevitable conclusion. Described as "the old hunting dog of the sea," the lobster is a creature of habit and survival, "who in the morning will rise from it / and be undrowned." The image of the lobster rising from the sea only to be captured and removed from its element speaks to the cycle of life and death. The phrase "be undrowned" suggests a kind of resurrection or emergence, but it is immediately undercut by the lobster's impending fate: "they will take his perfect green body / and paint it red." The transformation from green to red signifies the lobster's death and preparation for consumption, turning what was once a living being into an object for human use.

"Bestiary U.S.A.: Lobster" is a powerful reflection on the lobster's life as a metaphor for the human condition. Through its imagery and narrative, Sexton explores themes of isolation, the passage of time, and the inevitable confrontation with mortality. The lobster's journey, from its solitary existence in the sea to its capture and transformation, mirrors the existential struggles faced by all living beings in a world that often seems indifferent to their individual fates.

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